17 October 2019 – trading update
The group has issued a trading update covering the period from 1 July 2019 to 30 September 2019 and this has confirmed that trading was strong over the summer. All the group’s divisions increased revenues and profit with the Spanish and Moroccan division, ALSA, performing particularly well. Group revenues increased by 14.5% during the period with operating profit up 14.3% and this was helped by new contract wins and renewals which will help to sustain momentum over the medium term. Included in the new contracts is one to operate buses in Casablanca, Morocco’s largest city, which is worth over €1bn over the ten year term. The group has also renewed and expanded its second largest US contract in Boston – this will almost double revenues to $420m over the seven and a half year life of the contract. This is clearly an encouraging statement and we believe that the shares are a FIRM HOLD.