Go-Ahead
Annual Report and Accounts for the year ended 27 June 2009

Key performance indicators (KPIs)

Safety and environment KPIs

The following KPIs underpin our strategic objective to be a responsible operator: (see Our strategy point 1)

RIDDOR accidents per 100 employees
The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR) is a statutory requirement for all companies and relates to a work place incident which results in loss of work for over three days or a legally reportable incident to the Health & Safety Executive. Monitoring this KPI helps us to measure against our commitment to provide a safe working environment for our employees. Our aim is to reduce the number of accidents each year. We were pleased to report no employee fatalities this financial year. Group data is broken down by bus, rail and aviation services respectively.

Bus accidents* per million miles
The Board monitors the number of bus accidents which result in a notification to a claims handler.Monitoring this KPI helps us to measure against our commitment to provide a safe and positive travel experience for our passengers and helps us to manage accident claim costs.Our aim is to reduce the number of accidents each year.

  • *Bus accidents which result in a notification to a claims handler.

SPADs per million miles
Across the rail industry train operating companies are legally required to report Signals Passed at Danger (SPADs). Although every SPAD is treated as a serious incident,most SPADs occur at low speed where braking distance has been misjudged and the train is stopped by automatic warning systems and therefore the likelihood of an accident is very low. Monitoring SPADs helps us to measure against our commitment to provide a safe passenger service.Our aim each year is to reduce the number of SPADs and the risk of any incident when a SPAD does occur.

Environmental performance
We are committed to improving our energy efficency and to delivering high quality services that provide attractive alternatives to car travel. We monitor the carbon emissions from our core bus and rail operations per passenger journey. See a breakdown of our bus and rail emissions per passenger journey and the Group’s total carbon emissions.

  • *Excludes data from our aviation services division. The conversion factors used are in accordance with ‘Guidelines to DEFRA’s Greenhouse Gas Conversion Factors for Company Reporting’ June 2008.

RIDDOR accidents per 100 employees

Bar chart to show RIDDOR accidents per 100 employees

Bus accidents per million miles

Bar chart to show Bus accidents per million miles

SPADs per million miles

Bar chart to show SPADS per million miles

Carbon emissions per passenger journey*

Bar chart to show carbon emissions per passenger journey

Punctuality KPIs

The following KPIs underpin our strategic objective to be a high quality operator: (see Our strategy point 2)

Rail punctuality
The punctuality of our rail operations is measured on the basis of the Department for Transport’s Public Performance Measure (PPM) moving annual average.This is the percentage of trains that arrive at their final destination within five minutes of their scheduled arrival time having called at all scheduled stations.This time frame is an industry standard definition of what constitutes being 'on-time'. We are committed to providing reliable services and our aim is to improve punctuality each year. The PPM industry average is 90.6%**.

  • *London Midland was acquired in November 2007.
  • **Office of Rail Regulation – National RailTrends – for the year ended March 2009.

London bus punctuality
The reliability of our London bus operations is measured on the basis ofTransport for London’s (TfL) excess waiting time.This is the time in minutes passengers have to wait for a bus above the average scheduled waiting time.Therefore, the lower the excess waiting time the better. We are committed to providing punctual services and our aim is to maintain our low excess waiting time performance.The industry average is 1.09 minutes.

  • *Source: TfL. Data for 1 April 09 - 26 June 09.

Deregulated bus punctuality
The punctuality of our deregulated bus operations is measured as a percentage of buses that arrive at their stop one minute early to five minutes late.Therefore the higher the percentage the better.This time frame is an industry standard definition of what constitutes being 'on-time'. We are committed to providing reliable services and our aim is to improve punctuality each year.The industry average is 74%*.

  • *Source: DfT Public Transport statistics 2008. Latest available data.

Southern (%)

Bar chart showing punctuality rates for Southern

Southeastern (%)

Bar chart showing punctuality rates for Southeastern

London Midland* (%)

Bar chart showing punctuality rates for London Midland

Excess waiting time (minutes)

Bar chart showing excess waiting time in minutes

Punctuality (%)

Bar chart showing punctuality as a percentage

Financial KPIs

The following KPIs underpin our strategic objective to deliver shareholder value: (see Our strategy point 4)

Operating profit growth
This helps us to measure the underlying performance of our operating companies. It is measured before amortisation and exceptional items to provide more comparable year on year information.We aim to increase operating profit* (excluding acquisitions or disposals) and adjusted earnings per share* year on year.

  • *Before amortisation and exceptional items.

Strong cash management
We manage payment and receipts closely to convert operating profit (before amortisation & exceptional items) into operating cash.Our aim is to match cashflow generated from operations to operating profit* plus depreciation (EBITDA).

  • *Before amortisation and exceptional items.

Capital investment
We invest in capital to both maintain and enhance our operations.Our aim is for capital investment to match depreciation through the cycle, except if additional spend will add shareholder value.
 
 

Value adding acquisitions
We continue to assess acquisition opportunities primarily in the UK, but these will only be pursued if we believe they will add value for our shareholders.We made no acquisitions in the financial year.Our aim is for post tax operating profit* from transactions to exceed our post tax weighted average cost of capital of 8%.

  • * Before amortisation and exceptional items.

Progressive dividend policy
We are committed to delivering shareholder value through our progressive dividend policy.We measure our dividend cover (adjusted earnings per share* divided by dividend per share) to assess how much of our profits we can pay out as a dividend.Our aim is for dividend cover to average 2x adjusted earnings per share* through the cycle.

  • * Before amortisation and exceptional items.

Strong capital structure
We are committed to preserving a strong capital structure.Our aim is to maintain adjusted net debt / EBITDA at between 1.5x and 2.5x through the cycle.

Operating profit* (£m)

Bar chart showing operating profit

Cashflow generated from operations/EBITDA (%)

Bar chart showing cashflow generated from operations/EBITDA

Net capital investment/depreciation (%)

Bar chart showing net capital investment/depreciation as a percentage

Net acquisition spend (£m)

Bar chart showing net acquisition spend

Dividend cover (x)

Bar chart showing dividend cover

Adjusted Net Debt/EBITDA (x)

bar chart showing adjusted net debt/EBITDA