The group has cashed in on the privatisation of British Rail, despite criticisms of its service.

Stagecoach's pre-tax profits for the year to April jumped to £158.5m, compared to £120.5m in the previous 12 months.

Full stream ahead for Stagecoach's profits

Profits from South West Trains, which was heavily criticised two years ago when 2,000 trains were cancelled after redundancies among drivers, rose from £7.7m to £21.1m.

Stagecoach claimed that train reliability had improved significantly over the past year. The group said that a near 7% rise in passenger numbers was an indication that there had been substantial improvements to the service.

Stagecoach plans to add another 30 trains to the service this year as part of a £100m investment plan.

Government boost

Stagecoach welcomed yesterday's Government White Paper on transport which is designed to encourage the use of buses and trains instead of cars.

However the group said it may be several years before it stands to benefit from the government initiatives.

Stagecoach's finance director Keith Cochrane said: "We are encouraged by the positive nature of the measure that the Government is going to take."

The company looks set to continue its recent acquisition spree, and is eyeing up more international targets.

Going shopping

Chairman Brian Souter said the results "demonstrate our achievements so far and I believe we can create a substantive international transport business".

Since the year end the group has announced plans to tighten its grip in the UK rail market by purchasing a 49% stake in Richard Branson's Virgin Rail Group for £158m, subject to regulatory approval.

Virgin Rail operates the West Coast Main Line and CrossCountry franchises.

Stagecoach has also recently purchased Glasgow's Prestwick Airport for £41m.

It is now seeking new tour operators and freight planes to use the airport.

Another recent pruchase, Porterbrook, the train rolling stock leasing group, made an operating profit of £133m during the year, from £79.6m last time.

Profits from Stagecoach's bus service rose from £67.4m to £71.2m.

However the group warned there was rising pressure on staff costs as a result of the general improvement in economic conditions which were making staff recruitment and retention more difficult in some parts of the country.

Doing the splits

The sharp rise in the group's share price, buoyed in recent months by expectations of the Transport White Paper, has propelled it into the FTSE100 index of leading shares.

Stagecoach now plans a five for one share split, designed to make the shares more tradable.

However Stagecoach's shares had slipped 49p to 1335p by 1020 local time (0920 GMT) after it said that it may take some time for the government measures to make an impact.

Stagecoach's increased its dividend pay out by a third to 12p.