Arriva announces strong results

Mar 7 2008 by Peter McCusker, The Journal

LOCAL bus and rail operator, Arriva, announced a strong set of full year results for the period ended 31 December 2007.

The company reported a 16% rise in revenue to £2bn coupled with a 7% rise in operating profits.

The group’s largest division is now Mainland Europe, where it once again managed to deliver double digit revenue growth of 23% through a combination of organic growth and acquisitions.

Within this division, Arriva reported an 80% rise in revenue from its German operations. The UK Bus division increased sales to £814.7m, making it the second largest contributor to group turnover. Despite the impact of higher fuel costs over the period, the division managed to report an increase in margins to 10.8%.

The extensive CrossCountry Franchise, which was won towards the end of last year, increased revenues in the UK Trains division by 29% to £322.4m. This had a significant impact on revenue which otherwise would have been down by 2%.

The group secured a £615m credit facility in August, prior to the credit crisis, significantly strengthening its balance sheet. The company is increasing its final dividend by 10% to 17.06p per share.

Construction company, Tolent, also released its full year results and reported a 6.2% rise in pretax profits to £5.5m as well as record turnover of £180mn, up 7% from the previous year. Although the company expects a deterioration in market conditions through 2008 as the global credit crunch takes hold. Shares in the company rallied 13% to end on 195p.

Anna McKechnie anna.mckechnie@brewin.co.uk