The Group uses a wide range of key performance indicators ("KPIs") across its various businesses and at a Group level. The most important of these KPIs at a Group level focus on five key areas:
Profitability
Organic growth
Safety
Service delivery
Staff retention
Profitability
The Group seeks to increase long-term value to its shareholders. While the Group aims to take a long-term perspective on shareholder value, it also monitors the financial performance of each of its businesses in the shorter term. For the Group as a whole, the key measure of short-term financial performance is earnings per share, before exceptional items and the amortisation of intangible assets ("Adjusted EPS"). Adjusted EPS is calculated based on the profit attributable to equity shareholders (adjusted to exclude exceptional items and the amortisation of intangible assets) divided by the weighted average number of ordinary shares ranking for dividend during the relevant period.
Adjusted EPS was as follows:
| Year ended 30 April | ||
|---|---|---|
| 2006 pence |
2005 pence |
|
| Adjusted EPS | 10.6p | 9.5p |
Organic growth
A key element underpinning the Group's strategy is to deliver organic growth in revenue. The following measures of organic growth are monitored in respect of the Group's three divisions:
- UK Bus – growth in passenger journeys (excluding London where
Transport for London ("TfL") receives the passenger revenue) measured as
the percentage increase in the number of passenger journeys relative to
the equivalent period in the previous year.
- Rail – growth in passenger miles measured as the percentage increase in
the number of miles travelled by passengers relative to the equivalent
period in the previous year.
- North America – growth in US$ revenue from continuing operations measured as the percentage increase in revenue relative to the equivalent period in the previous year.
The measures vary by division reflecting differences in the underlying business – for example, not all passenger revenue in North America is determined on a "per passenger" basis.
All of these growth KPIs involve a degree of estimation in respect of passenger volumes and are normalised to exclude businesses that have not been held by the Group for the whole of both periods. The organic growth KPIs were as follows:
| Year ended 30 April 2006 Growth % |
|
|---|---|
| UK Bus passenger journeys | 2.1% |
| UK Rail passenger miles | |
| – South West Trains | 1.3% |
| – VRG – West Coast | 21.3% |
| – VRG – CrossCountry | 4.3% |
| North America revenue | 11.0% |
Safety
In addition to providing reliable services, we seek to ensure the safety of our passengers, staff and others.
Health and safety matters are discussed on pages 15 and 16 of this Annual Report. Safety is monitored in various ways, including through a range of KPIs. Group level KPIs include the number of passenger injuries per million miles and staff lost time accidents per 100,000 hours worked.
Disposed businesses are excluded from the safety KPIs.
The safety KPIs were as follows:
| Year ended 30 April | ||
|---|---|---|
| 2006 | 2005 | |
| Passenger injuries per million miles | 1.39 | 1.47 |
| Staff lost time accidents per 100,000 hours worked | 0.83 | 0.98 |
Service delivery
We aim to provide a reliable service to support our organic growth strategy. Our measures of service delivery include:
- UK Bus – lost mileage measured as the percentage of planned miles to be
operated that were not operated.
- Rail – punctuality measured on the basis of the DfT's Public Performance Measure (moving annual average) being the percentage of trains that arrive at their destination within 5 minutes (or 10 minutes for inter-city services) of their scheduled arrival time having called at all scheduled stations.
The service delivery KPIs were as follows:
| Year ended 30 April | ||
|---|---|---|
| 2006 % |
2005 % |
|
| UK Bus lost mileage | 0.5% | 0.8% |
| UK Rail punctuality | ||
| – South West Trains | 90.0% | 82.5% |
| – VRG – West Coast | 84.2% | 72.5% |
| – VRG – CrossCountry | 81.3% | 77.5% |
Staff retention
The Group's most important resource is its employees. We monitor staff turnover which is measured as the number of employees who left the Group (other than through business disposals) during the period as a proportion of the total average employees during the period. Staff turnover for the last two years was as follows:
| Year ended 30 April | ||
|---|---|---|
| 2006 % |
2005 % |
|
| UK Bus staff turnover | 18.1% | 22.4% |
| UK Rail staff turnover | ||
| – South West Trains | 8.8% | 10.7% |
| – VRG | 6.2% | 7.7% |
| North America staff turnover | 21.9% | 24.0% |