FirstGroup is ‘well-positioned for long-term growth’ despite H1 loss

FirstGroup plc (LON: FGP) is in the red today after reporting a pre-tax loss for the first six months of its fiscal 2024.

FirstGroup’s financial health remains strong

On Thursday, the transport operator said it lost £68.4 million ($85.79 million) in H1 versus £8.7 million in profit last year.

FirstGroup attributed the weakness to £142 million worth of charges related to a pension-related restructuring at First Bus.

Nonetheless, the overall financial health of the London-listed firm remains strong considering £71.3 million (adjusted) of earnings before tax excluding the non-recurring costs versus £32.9 million only in the same period of fiscal 2023.

FirstGroup also raised its dividend today from 0.9 pence a share to 1.5 pence per share. $FGP is currently up more than 65% for the year.

FirstGroup plc took a slight hit to revenue

FirstGroup saw a slight decline in its revenue to £2.207 billion in the first half of fiscal 2024 due to lower government funding.

But positive pricing and elevated passenger volumes helped the bus division remain somewhat resilient with an 18% annualised growth in revenue. Graham Sutherland – the Chief Executive of FirstGroup said in a press release today:

Rail division, as per the U.K. based multinational, saw weakness in management-fee based operations while open access services remained strong. Wall Street currently has a consensus “buy” rating on $FGP.