Group financial statements
Notes to the consolidated financial statements continued
The Go-Ahead Group Limited Annual Report and Accounts 2022
31. Post balance sheet events
Regional Bus
On 19 August 2022, the DfT announced that the Bus Recovery Grant (BRG) will be extended for a further 6 months to the end of March
2023, with £130.0m of funding available for UK bus services. Following this, on 17 February 2023 a further extension of BRG funding to
30 June 2023 was announced, with an additional £80.0m of funding available.
On 19 December 2022, the DfT announced the introduction of a scheme to cap most single bus fares in England (outside London) to £2
from 1st January 2023 until 31st March 2023, with funding available for UK bus services of £60.0m. Following this on 17 February 2023
an extension to the scheme was announced to 30 June 2023, with £75.0m of additional funding available.
The Group has won the first two contracts to be awarded by Transport for Greater Manchester as part of its plan to re-regulate bus
services in the city region under its new Bee Network. Go-Ahead’s Go North West operating company will run 55 bus routes in both
Wigan and Bolton from 17 September 2023.
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On 14 November 2022, Go-Ahead purchased 100% of the issued share capital of Clyst St-Mary-based coach and bus operator,
Dartline Coaches, for approximately £5.0m. The acquisition saw 118 employees and 84 vehicles become part of Go South West’s
operating company and will expand the Group
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s business in the region. Goodwill of approximately £1.0m was recognised as a result
of the transaction. At the acquisition date, Dartline Coaches held tangible fixed assets of approximately £3.4m, current assets of
£2.0m and liabilities of £1.5m. The accounting for this transaction is currently being finalised at the time of publication of the Annual
Report and Accounts.
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On 1 February 2023, Go-Ahead acquired 100% of the issued share capital of Southdown Buses for approximately £1.5m. Southdown
Buses is a bus company operating in East Surrey, Kent and Sussex. Southdown, which operates 25 buses and employs 43 people, will
operate as a subsidiary of Go-Ahead’s Brighton-based operating company. The company runs scheduled routes and provides rail
replacement bus services, and it will expand the Group
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s business in the region. The accounting for this transaction is currently in
progress at the time of publication of the Annual Report and Accounts.
London & International Bus
On 24 August 2022, it was confirmed that the Land Transport Authority of Singapore had granted a three-year contract extension to
Go-Ahead Singapore to continue operating in the Loyang region of the island. The extension begins in September 2023 and will run
until September 2026. This follows the initial five-year contract which saw the Group’s entry into the Singapore bus market in
September 2016. This is Go-Ahead Singapore’s second contract extension, with the first being a 2-year extension awarded in August
2020, running from September 2021 to September 2023.
In December 2022, Go-Ahead won a contract to operate buses in Sydney, under a joint venture with an Australian company, UGL. This
takes the Group into a new market, and in line with the ambition set out for international expansion under the Group’s new strategy.
The buses will run under a brand the Group has created for the joint venture, called U-Go Mobility. From July 2023, the Group will
operate a network of 225 buses, to be run by more than 400 colleagues in an area stretching from Sydney’s southern beaches to the
city’s south-western suburbs. The Group will be delivering more than 500,000 passenger journeys daily.
Offer and subsequent purchase of the Go-Ahead Group (“Go-Ahead”) by Gerrard Investment Bidco Limited ("Bidco")
On 13 June 2022, the boards of directors of BidCo and Go-Ahead announced they had reached agreement on the terms of a
recommended cash offer for the Group, pursuant to which BidCo would acquire the entire issued share capital of Go-Ahead (the
“Scheme of Arrangement”). BidCo is a newly formed company indirectly owned by Kinetic TCo Pty Ltd (“Kinetic”) and Globalvia
Inversiones S.A.U. (“Globalvia”). This offer was increased on 4 August 2022, to 1,550 pence for each Go-Ahead share, comprising 1,450
pence in cash and a special dividend of 100 pence per Go-Ahead share.
On 16 August 2022, the Scheme of Arrangement was approved by the requisite majority of shareholders. The Scheme of Arrangement
was subject to certain other conditions including sanction by the Court which took place on 6 October 2022, with the Scheme of
Arrangement becoming effective on 10 October 2022 and Go-Ahead’s shares being delisted on 11 October 2022.
International Rail
Subsequent to the year-end, a dispute has arisen with the Norwegian Rail Directorate relating to specific terms for the compensation
for loss of passenger income mechanism that had been agreed under the revised agreement traffic agreement dated 28 June 2022.
Based on legal advice obtained and review of correspondence between the Company and the Rail Directorate at the time of the
signing of the revised agreement in June, the Directors are satisfied that the onerous provision has been calculated based on the terms
of the revised agreement. Whilst the Directors are confident of a successful outcome, until such time as the dispute is resolved with
the Directorate there remains a possible risk that if successfully challenged by the Directorate, this could increase the onerous
contract provision by up to £20.0m. The Directors consider that the onerous contract provision reflects their best estimate of the
terms agreed at the time.
Cyber security Incident
On 5 September 2022, a cyber security incident was announced by the Group after unauthorised activity was detected on its network.
Upon becoming aware of the incident, the Group immediately engaged external forensic specialists and took precautionary measures
with its IT infrastructure. There is no financial impact of this in the financial year ended 2 July 2022 and the financial impact in FY23 is
currently still being assessed.
Board Changes
For information on Board changes that occurred subsequent to the year ended 2 July 2022, please see pages 66 to 69 of the Board
overview section of Governance.