Stagecoach reassured investors yesterday that the transport group remained on track to meet its full-year forecasts in the face of “more challenging” trading conditions.
The Perth-based company headed by Sir Brian Souter, the founder, chairman and largest shareholder, said: “Consistent with the trends we reported in December, revenue growth in our UK Bus (regional operations) and UK Rail businesses in the second half of the financial year has been lower than was experienced in the first half.
“As we anticipated, second-half revenue in North America is benefiting from new contract wins.” Stagecoach’s North American operations include the Megabus budget intercity coach service, which has experienced a drop in demand caused by lower petrol prices tempting passengers back to their cars.
In a trading update, the company said that, in the nine months to the end of January, like-for-like revenues in North America were down 4.4 per cent, although that was an improvement on the 5 per cent fall reported for the six months to the end of October.
The shares rose by 3¼p, or 1.2 per cent, to close at 277¼p.