Again huge buys after hours.Why?

Stagecoach increases dividend by almost 10%
StockMarketWire.com
Adjusted earnings per share at Stagecoach Group for the year ended April 30 2012 was up 6.7% to 25.4p.

The full year dividend is up almost 10% to 7.8p.

The company has succeeded in the expansion of megabus.com in North America and Europe and obtained a new alliance with Network Rail.

Like-for-like revenue is up 6.9% across the Group.

Virgin Rail Group's bid for new West Coast rail franchise was submitted last month and it has been shortlisted for two new UK rail franchises

The company says there is further potential to grow operating profit at the acquired London bus business.

Commenting on the results, Chief Executive, Sir Brian Souter, said: "We continue to see good organic growth in our bus and rail services in the UK and North America. This has been supported by our successful mix of innovation, value-for-money travel, continued investment in our services, and strong operational delivery.

"Our UK regional bus operations are delivering good returns with different management approaches applied to respond to the different conditions in each of the markets in which we operate. In London, our turnaround plan is progressing well and we have won new contracts on more acceptable profit margins.

"We are excited about the next phase of our growth plan for our budget coach brand, megabus.com. As well as testing the market in Europe, we are expanding to new locations in North America where the response to the product from consumers has been particularly strong.

"The planned acquisitions from Coach America will enable us to expand our US business at a reasonable price while further underpinning the development of megabus.com in targeted regions.

"In UK Rail, we are pleased that East Midlands Trains has returned to profit and South West Trains continues to perform well. We are involved in shortlisted bids for a number of new franchises. At South West Trains, we are moving forward with our alliance with Network Rail to deliver a more efficient railway and a better service for passengers. We believe this approach can be a model for future franchises and our pioneering work can give the Group first mover advantage.

"Across our business, our new ideas and partnerships are helping shape the future of public transport and the Stagecoach difference is delivering strong returns to our shareholders. We believe the outlook for our bus and rail services is positive and we look forward with confidence to the year ahead."

26 June 2012



Stagecoach Group plc - Preliminary results for the year ended 30 April 2012



Business highlights



Maximising shareholder returns

· Adjusted earnings per share* up 6.7% to 25.4 pence (2011: 23.8 pence)

· Full year dividend up almost 10% to 7.8 pence (2011: 7.1 pence)

· c.£340m cash return to shareholders in October 2011



Leading the way in improving transport for passengers

· Growth underpinned by innovation, value for money, investment and operational delivery

· Expansion of megabus.com in North America and Europe

· New Alliance with Network Rail



Pursuit of new opportunities for growth

· Like-for-like revenue up 6.9% across the Group

· Virgin Rail Group's bid for new West Coast rail franchise submitted May 2012

· Shortlisted for two new UK rail franchises

· US$134m planned acquisition of businesses and assets from Coach America

· Further potential to grow operating profit at acquired London Bus business





http://www.moneyam.com/action/news/showArticle?id=4395243

..Questor share tip: Stagecoach motors on

By Nathalie Thomas | Telegraph – 8 hours ago




......
Train operators will never win any popularity contests, no matter how well they spin their punctuality figures, customer satisfaction levels and the like.

Stagecoach 263.5p+13.7 Questor says Buy

So it’s little wonder that when transport groups such as Stagecoach put out their numbers, their UK train businesses attract the most attention.

In Stagecoach’s case, its troubled East Midlands franchise stole the limelight at its full-year results. It reported similar issues on the East Midlands franchise as Go-Ahead did on its Southern (Hamburg: SOT.HM - news) services last week.

Revenues and passenger numbers may still be growing but they’re not meeting the forecasts made when the two companies bid for their franchises - long before anyone realised the severity of the economic downturn.

Stagecoach reported a 44pc slump in operating profit at its UK rail division - which also includes the South West Trains franchise - to £27.1m. Grim as this figure may be, it’s not time to jump off the train and hail a taxi instead. Many in the City thought the results were “robust” given we’re in a double-dip recession.

Group revenues at the Perth-headquartered group edged up to £2.6bn from £2.4bn in 2011.

Pre-tax profits from continuing operations of £202.5m slipped from the £205.7m last time, though after adjusting for various exceptional items - including a £38m pension benefit - the figure rises to £239.8m.

While buses are often considered boring compared to trains, Stagecoach’s UK bus division was the real bright spot, outperforming most analysts’ expectations.

Operating profit at its regional bus division increased to £162.7m from £153.1m in 2011 despite complaints from some competitors about a growing “north-south divide” hitting travel in some parts of the country.

Sir Brian Souter, Stagecoach chief executive, admitted to some concerns about the north-east of England. But otherwise he is confident about the prospects for the bus operation, which he says, was “stress-tested” during the recession of 2009. So confident, in fact, that he believes there may be “opportunities” to buy assets put on the market by rival FirstGroup (Other OTC: FGROF.PK - news) .

Having bought back its old London bus business for a knockdown £52.8m in October 2010, the turnaround is humming along, with Stagecoach reversing last time’s £5.9m losses to post £13.5m profits.

Despite some challenges over delivering services during the Olympics, Stagecoach believes there is further to go in getting its London operation to motor.

Analysts at Deutsche Bank (Xetra: 514000 - news) say margins in London bus should be able to reach 7pc-7.5pc from 5.9pc at present.

North America is the smallest part of the group but with the roll-out of Sir Brian’s budget coach service megabus.com it is also the fastest growing.

So while there are ups and downs in rail, there’s plenty more to drive the company forward and this sentiment was reflected in yesterday’s 5.4pc lift in the share price to 263.5p.

On analysts’ forecasts of £196m pre-tax profits, the shares are trading on a prospective multiple of just under 10 times, yielding almost 3pc. Stagecoach is a good defensive, cash-generative stock. Hang on for the ride. Buy.

..

RESEARCH ALERT-HSBC raises Stagecoach to overweight
Mon, 30th Jul 2012 07:33

July 30 (Reuters) - Stagecoach Group PLC:

* HSBC raises Stagecoach to overweight from neutral; price target to

310p from 250p

http://www.moneyam.com/action/news/showArticle?id=4427309

West Coast rail franchise

Stagecoach Group plc ("Stagecoach") is disappointed that its joint venture, Virgin Rail Group, has been unsuccessful in its bid for the new West Coast rail franchise, due to commence in December 2012.

Could see a red day today

Ironically, it looks like a bullish engulfing candle here and a bearish engulfing on FGP.

12 month high today @295.30p - charts above (bullish/bearish) still looking ok.

Interim Management Statement

Government scraps $9 billion West Coast rail deal

LONDON | Wed Oct 3, 2012 5:10am BST

(Reuters) - Britain scrapped on Wednesday a $9 billion (5.5 billion pounds) deal that had awarded the West Coast rail line to FirstGroup Plc, citing flaws in the government's figures, just a day after the company had said it was prepared to take over the key mainline train service this year.

FirstGroup in August won the 13-year deal for the London-to-Scotland line with a bid of around 6 billion pounds, but the decision was challenged by Virgin Trains, a joint venture between high-profile billionaire Richard Branson's Virgin Group and Stagecoach.

Completion of Acquisition

Completion of acquisition of bus operations in Merseyside, Cheshire and North Wales

Stagecoach Group plc ("Stagecoach") is pleased to announce that, further to its announcement on 12 November 2012, Glenvale Transport Ltd, a wholly owned indirect subsidiary of Stagecoach, has completed the acquisition of certain businesses and assets of subsidiaries of FirstGroup plc in Merseyside, Cheshire and North Wales.

ENDS

Deutsche Bank note:
EBITA of £77m came in marginally ahead of our £76m forecast and has grown despite one-off Olympic contracts last year. Business KPIs are all positive: volume growth (for medium term health) is +1%, commercial revenue growth (away from subsidized income streams) is +4.2% and concessionary revenue growth is better than stable at +2.2%. On Quality Contracts, the local authority is due to comment in March 2014 and Stagecoach management remains confident of a relatively benign eventual outcome. Management also sees no change to BSOG or concessionary rates until 2015 UK elections at the earliest.
A clear beat with EBITA of £20m which seems to have been fully driven by US megabus. In the absence of start-up costs underlying margins are likely to have been very good, reinforcing the medium-term potential of the business. Coach America assets are now fully integrated and the management team is now in place to resume mileage growth of 20% next year. Whilst Greyhound competition remains aggressive in some areas, it is in line with expectations and no worse than previously reported. Given the substantial underlying margin improvement alongside LFL top-line growth of 23% we feel incrementally more confident that megabus is a strong multi-year story.
Operationally, rail EBITA of £18m was in line. We had expected the key newsflow to be around extension agreements for West Coast and SWT, but both of these have disappointingly been delayed until H2 2014. We believe the delay is time-resource driven rather than a fundamental disagreement between SGC and the DfT. Nevertheless SGC remains incumbent on its three franchises, is short-listed for Thameslink and DLR and has submitted its PQQ for East Coast in a 90:10 JV with its West Coast partner Virgin. Despite the delay to extension agreements we believe SGC is still well placed to be a medium-term beneficiary in Rail. As an aside, it also seems clear that new franchise structure will transfer almost all macro risk to the state in a GDP risk share mechanism.
We have raised our FY14 EPS forecast by 2% but keep FY15 & 16 broadly unchanged. Our TP increases to 400p by rolling our valuation forward a year to a 12x FY15E EV/EBITA multiple."

Ex-divi wed 5th Feb (2.9p)

Preliminary Results

Financial results in line with expectations
· Adjusted earnings per share* up 5.7% to 26.0 pence (2013 restated: 24.6 pence)
· Full year dividend per share up 10.5% to 9.5 pence (2013: 8.6 pence)
· Net debt+ down £76.4m to £461.6m (2013: £538.0m)
· Current trading in line with management expectations

UK Bus
· Market-leading financial performance and customer satisfaction
· Orders for over £110m of new greener buses for 2014/15
· New contract wins in London driven by good cost control and operational performance

UK Rail
· New West Coast Trains franchise agreed
· Extension of South West Trains-Network Rail Alliance
· £9m invested in pursuing new rail franchise opportunities

North America
· Over 80% increase in operating profit
· megabus.com inter-city services driving growth in revenue and operating profit
· Progress in resolving legal cases at Twin America sightseeing joint venture

Growth opportunities ahead
· Focus on customer service improvements to support modal shift
· Development of megabus.com product and footprint
· Planned extensions or direct awards of South West and East Midlands rail franchises
· Shortlisted for InterCity East Coast rail franchise in partnership with Virgin, with pipeline of other new rail opportunities in UK


more...

StockMarketWire.com
Stagecoach Group welcomed today's announcement by the Department for Transport (DfT) of its intention to award the new InterCity East Coast (ICEC) rail franchise to Stagecoach's venture with Virgin, Inter City Railways Limited (ICR).

Passengers can look forward to new services, quicker and more frequent journeys whilst taxpayers will get a bigger return than they receive under the current temporary East Coast arrangements.

ICR will transform the customer experience for around 20 million journeys a year on one of the UK's major inter-city rail routes, blending the experience, culture and service-focus of both Stagecoach and Virgin. Stagecoach holds 90% of the share capital of ICR and Virgin holds the remaining 10%.

The new franchise will start in March 2015 and is planned to run until 31 March 2023, with the option for a one-year extension at the DfT's discretion. It includes a commitment to deliver £2.3bn* in real terms in premium payments to the Government between 2015 and 2023, providing a higher return to the taxpayer than under the current arrangements.

The franchise is set to see more than £140m invested in delivering an improved service and a more personalised travel experience for passengers. Trains will operate under the 'Virgin Trains East Coast' brand.

StockMarketWire.com
Stagecoach has booked an H1 pretax profit of £98.3m, slightly lower than the prior same period's £98.5m. Revenue totalled £1.55bn, from £1.47bn. It proposed an interim dividend of 3.2p a share, up 10.3% from 2.9p.

CEO Martin Griffiths commented:
"These are a good set of results, reflecting the strength of our businesses in the UK, mainland Europe and North America. We have improved further the travel experience for our customers, provided value for money for taxpayers, invested in public transport and added value for our shareholders.

"Strong partnerships between transport operators and central and local government are the best way to maximise the value in public transport for our communities and for our regional economies. We are proud that our record of significant investment, innovation, and low fares has delivered strong transport networks and high levels of passenger satisfaction.

"Despite facing a number of challenges, our sector-leading commercial bus operations in the UK have continued to grow, helping support the economies of some of the country's biggest city regions. Working with other bus companies and building on our existing multi-million-pound digital strategy, we are planning to introduce smart multi-operator ticketing in key city regions during 2015.

"This transformational initiative demonstrates what can be achieved at local community level without the need for costly and unnecessary regulatory change. "Our megabus.com branded coach services in the UK, mainland Europe and North America have helped create hundreds of new jobs. We have significantly expanded our footprint in mainland Europe and are encouraged by the opportunities in several countries, including moves to open up the inter-city coach market in France.

"There is encouraging momentum in the UK rail sector, with the award this year of several new franchises. We have opportunities to add value from both our existing franchises and new contracts, and to improve services for passengers. In particular, we are working closely with Government and Network Rail to provide new trains, extra capacity and a more reliable service for customers.

"We are delighted to have been selected to operate the new InterCity East Coast rail franchise along with our partner, Virgin. Our plans will deliver a transformation in travel for passengers, as well as value for money for the taxpayer. We are shortlisted for the TransPennine Express franchise and look forward to agreeing new franchises with the Department for Transport to extend our time at East Midlands Trains and South West Trains.

"Overall the Group is in excellent financial shape and we are well placed to drive value through new opportunities in our core bus and rail markets.

"While we have changed our view of the likely divisional mix of profit for the year ending 30 April 2015, with lower expected operating profit from our regional UK Bus and North America businesses broadly offset by other areas, we remain on course to achieve our expected adjusted earnings per share for the year."

Highlights:
· Continued passenger volume growth in commercialised UK bus market: Successful partnership working with government, investment and low fares; Significant further investment in technology improvements for customers; Working with other bus companies to deliver smart multi-operator ticketing in key city regions during 2015

· Expansion of megabus.com coach operations in Europe

· Commercial initiatives to further grow megabus.com in North America

· Encouraging momentum in UK rail sector: New InterCity East Coast franchise due to commence in March 2015; West Coast Trains franchise through to 2017 and performing strongly; Planning for direct awards of new South West Trains and East Midlands Trains franchises in second-half of 2015; One of three shortlisted bidders for TransPennine Express franchise.

StockMarketWire.com
Stagecoach Group said recent trading has been consistent with its expectations and there is no change to the adjusted earnings per share that it is anticipating for the year to April 30.

Like-for-like revenue growth for the financial year to date in each of the Group's main businesses is provided below:

- UK Bus (regional operations), 48 weeks ended 29 March 2015, 2.4%

- UK Bus (London), 48 ended 29 March 2015, 8.1%

- UK Rail, 48 weeks ended 29 March 2015, 9.0%

- North America, 11 months ended 31 March 2015, 1.0%

- Virgin Rail Group, 48 weeks ended 29 March 2015, 7.6%