ABERDEEN, Scotland – Greyhound Lines has posted its first year-over-year increase in quarterly revenue in more than two years.
During the three months ended Dec. 24, 2016, Greyhound revenue rose 1.2 percent from the same quarter a year ago. The increase broke a string of nine consecutive quarters in which Greyhound revenue had been below that of the same quarter the year before.
The 27-month falloff in revenue was triggered primarily by the sharp decline in gasoline prices that began in October/November 2014.
Greyhound’s parent company, FirstGroup plc, said in a quarterly trading update that the “improving Greyhound volumes” resulted from “higher fuel prices than the comparable period last year and the continued development of our algorithmic pricing and yield-management systems.”
U.S. average gasoline prices, during the final three months of 2016, were as much as 24 cents a gallon higher than during the same period in 2015.
Despite the uptick in sales for the most-recent quarter, Greyhound systemwide revenue for the nine months ended Dec. 24 was 2.5 percent below that of the same period in 2015.
FirstGroup and most of its subsidiaries are on a fiscal year that ends March 31. The company is scheduled to announce results for all of fiscal 2017 on June 1.
As for FirstGroup’s other U.S. operations:
· Revenue at First Student rose 1 percent in the December quarter and was up half a percentage point during the nine months ended Dec. 24. First Student is the largest school bus operator in North America.
· First Transit revenue climbed 5.5 percent in the latest quarter, pushing revenue for the latest nine months 4 percent above a year ago. First Transit, a leading public transit management company, benefitted from continuing organic growth, new business and efforts to recover cost increases.
Companywide, revenue at FirstGroup – on a constant currency basis – was flat during the third quarter, with the growth in North American operations offset by decreased bus operations revenue in the United Kingdom and a modest gain for its UK rail franchises.
“Our substantial North American operations are delivering encouraging performances and are benefiting from currency tailwinds, but we continue to experience tough trading conditions for our First Bus and First Rail operations in what remains an uncertain UK macroeconomic environment,” said FirstGroup Chief Executive Tim O’Toole.
“We remain focused on disciplined execution to deliver significantly increased cash generation for the full year.”
In the third quarter, FirstGroup repaid $50 million of private placement notes from cash balances.
