FirstGroup reports sharp drop in 1H revenues as debt leaps higher

For the first six months of the 2023 financial year, the coach and rail operator posted a near 29% reduction in revenues on a statutory basis to reach £2,215m, while profits before tax fell by more than 98% to £8.7m.

In turn, earnings per share were in the red by 0.1p, also on a statutory basis, down from 42.4p one year ago.

Going the other way, net debt ballooned from £234.2m in FY 2022 to £1,475.0m.

Group adjusted attributable profit did improve, from £13.3m to £30.8m, with management stating that it was in line with its own expectations.

Adjusted EPS meanwhile fell from 6.6p to 3.4p.

The company also declared an interim dividend of 0.9p, versus none for the equivalent period of 2022.

As of 1136 GMT, shares of First Group were down by 7.86% to 98.50p.

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