FirstGroup named a new chief executive alongside results showing a big improvement in underlying profits and revenue.
The Aberdeen-based transport giant said yesterday it had chosen one of its existing senior management team, chief financial offer Matthew Gregory, to take on the top job.
Mr Gregory, who has also been interim chief operating officer since May, starts his new role immediately.
FirstGroup has been without a permament CEO since Tim O’Toole went on garden leave in May, leaving the company for good at the end of September.
Results for the six months to September 30 showed underlying pre-tax profits and revenue up by 37.7% to £42 million and 19.2% to £3.3 billion respectively, compared with a year ago.
Net debt stood at just over £1bn at the end of the latest period, down by 11.2% from nearly £1.18bn on September 30 2017.
Statutory figures were less impressive, however, with pre-tax losses widening to £4.6m, from £1.9m previously, as revenue from across FirstGroup’s UK and North American operations grew by one-fifth.
The company said trading was in line with expectations, leaving its full-year outlook unchanged.
FirstGroup, which employs about 100,000 people, transported 2.1bn passengers last year.
It said its statutory losses reflected restructuring and reorganisation costs from the withdrawal of Greyhound services in western Canada.
The group’s UK-wide First Bus business delivered a 1.5% like-for like increase in passenger revenue and “strong margin momentum”, which the company said was driven by its efforts to make journeys simpler.
UK rail operations generated a 5.5% rise in passenger revenue, despite “infrastructure issues”.
In North America, the First Student fleet of yellow school buses continued to grow, benefiting from a “strong bid season”, while an improvement plan for the firm’s under-pressure Greyhound bus business is “targeting at least mid-single digit margins in the medium term”.
Mr Gregory said “good progress” had been achieved during the first half.
He added: “We are getting on with delivering our plans to improve performance in our divisions.
“Although conditions in our markets remain challenging, our performance to date underpins the confidence we have in our unchanged outlook for the full year.”
