Results round-up

Passenger transport operator Go-Ahead Group posted its preliminary full-year results for the year to 2 July on Friday, with its overall results slightly ahead of management expectations.

The FTSE 250 firm achieves its £100m bus target, with adjusted operating profit there up 8% to £100.4m.

Regional bus operations saw a 9.4% rise in adjusted operating profit to £53.3m, while London bus adjusted operating profit rose 6.3% to £47.1m.

Rail adjusted operating profit was £57m, with a margin of 2.3% and a contribution to the Department for Transport of £222.4m.

Go-Ahead’s board proposed a 6.5% increase in the full-year dividend to 95.85p.

"It has been a year of financial progress in all three divisions,” said group chief executive David Brown.

“Our market positions have been strengthened, with organic growth supported by contract wins and extensions.

“As part of a targeted programme, we are pleased to have won new business in Singapore and Germany,” Brown added.

Shares in McCarthy & Stone slumped after the retirement housebuilder reported a rise in revenue in the year to the end of August but said there has been evidence of some weakness in the secondary housing market since its update at the end of June.

In a trading update ahead of its full-year results in November, the company said revenue was up 31% to around £635m, with legal completions 20% higher at 2,299 units.

Meanwhile, the land bank increased to approximately 10,206 plots from 10,087 and the net average selling price jumped 8% to £259,000.

Still, McCarthy said it had seen evidence of some weakness in the secondary housing market since its trading update on 29 June.

The company said that while website enquiries have increased and it has continued to take new reservations, these have been at a lower level than in the first nine months of the financial year and cancellations have been at higher levels.

“Whilst it is too early to judge what medium term impact we will see from the EU referendum result and the Bank of England's subsequent changes to monetary policy, prolonged housing market weakness, particularly in the secondary market, could affect our ability to deliver our targeted 15% volume growth previously indicated for the financial year ending 31 August 2017."