FIRST Group, the company behind the First Great Western rail service labelled "unacceptable" by ministers earlier this year, is likely to stoke further criticism with bumper annual profits on Wednesday.
The rail and bus group is expected by analysts to unveil pre-tax profits of around £248m for the year to March 31 – 77% ahead of the previous 12 months.
The Aberdeen-based group's bottom line will be boosted by six-month trading from US group Laid
law – the yellow school bus giant and owner of trans-American bus company Greyhound – which it bought in a £1.9bn deal last year.
But the group is also the UK's largest rail operator, and its latest trading update also boasted a 10%-plus rise in rail revenues during the year.
In January, passengers were hit with above-inflation fare rises across the network, although FGW's poor performance prompted fare strikes by some consumers.
A month later it received a formal rebuke for its handling of the rail franchise and was forced into a £29m programme of improvements at FGW, which runs services to Reading, Bristol, South Wales and the West Country.
First's other rail franchises are First ScotRail, First Capital Connect and First TransPennine Express, where punctuality rates are higher than 90%.
The group's UK bus business boasts a 9,000-strong fleet, carrying three million passengers a day in more than 40 major towns and cities. Passenger revenues grew 5% last year.
Investors will be looking out for the possible impact of soaring fuel costs on the company, as well as prospects for the US business in a difficult economic climate.
Charles Stanley analyst Tony Shepard said: "There are some concerns about how Greyhound will perform in a recessionary environment, as, in the last recession, Greyhound profit margins declined sharply."
The full article contains 305 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
