Go-Ahead Group PLC said on Thursday that pretax profit fell for the first half of fiscal 2021, but that its financial expectations for the full year have risen.
The U.K. transport company said that the rise in expectations was a reflection of the short-term benefit relating to the timing of quality incentive contract income recognition in its London & International bus division.
The company said that for the six months ended Jan. 2, pretax profit was 24.6 million pounds ($34.3 million) compared with GBP49.0 million for the first half of fiscal 2020.
Adjusted operating profit–the company’s preferred metric which strips out exceptional and other one-off items–fell to GBP56.1 million from GBP60.0 million in the year-prior period.
Revenue for the period rose to GBP2.07 billion from GBP2.01 billion the year before. The company said this was mostly due to the start of operations in its international rail franchises, partially offset by the impact of the Covid-19 crisis on the company.
The board said it continues to work toward paying a dividend at an appropriate level in the 2021 calendar year.