Go-Ahead’s Irish subsidiary made a profit of €2.6 million last year, according to the financial statements just filed.
o-Ahead Ireland, whose Managing Director here is Andrew Edwards, operates more than 200 state-owned buses on routes in Dublin and the surrounding commuter boroughs under contracts with the National Transport Authority (NTA).
The company is paid per kilometer for maintaining the tracks it operates, but could face fines if its service falls short of strict targets. The accounts say the Irish company has met its key target of driving 98 per cent of planned kilometers in fiscal 2021, despite a workforce reduction as a result of Covid.
In 2021, reduced fuel costs and improved miles per gallon as a result of a decrease in traffic helped improve the company’s financial performance.
Revenue for the 12 months ended June 2021 was €44.7m and generated a profit after tax of €2.6m. At the end of the financial year, the company employed 610 people in Ireland.
Sales in 2021 increased from €38.2 million in the previous year and a pre-tax profit of €1.8 million. Go-Ahead’s Irish branch was formed in 2017 with a deal to operate bus services outside Dublin.
The contract, which was NTA’s first open tender, included 24 lines, 125 buses and about 350 drivers.
A second contract was awarded in 2018 to operate six routes linking Dublin to the major commuter towns of Offaly, Laois, Kildare and Meath, requiring around 80 drivers.
Go-Ahead’s main listed market is the UK, where the company operates more than 6,000 buses and some passenger trains.
The company also operates in Norway, Germany and Singapore.
Last month, the UK’s Financial Reporting Council launched an inquiry into accounting giant Deloitte’s audit of Go-Ahead’s financial affairs from 2016 to 2021.
The investigation follows a £23.5m (€28m) fine imposed on Go-Ahead by the UK government in March for overcharging contracts to operate rail services there.
Go-Ahead said last December that an independent review had uncovered “serious errors” by its London and south-east rail concessions company, which had led it to overcharge the UK government for multi-year contracts.
The Financial Reporting Council regulates accountants and auditors, which is why its investigation focuses on Deloitte, not the transport company itself.
Deloitte Ireland is the company’s auditor here.
The Financial Reporting Council’s investigation into Deloitte’s audits will also include the unit here in Ireland.
