The profits on the bus go up and up: British buses drove ComfortDelGro's operating profit up 6%

Lower finance costs also boosted earnings.

According to Barclays, ComfortDelgro's operating profit was +6% y/y, in line with its expectation, driven by the UK Bus operation. The main upside surprise came from the lower-than-expected finance costs thanks to lower-than-expected borrowing costs.

Here's more:

1Q14 EPS was S2.98cts, +8% y/y, tracking ahead of our full-year estimate of +5% y/y and in line with Thomson One consensus of +8% y/y. 

Prospects: We expect the company’s operating profit in 2-4Q to track in line with our full-year expectation with the growth driven by UK Bus, BUS SG and Taxi operations. We see potential upside risks in finance costs, if the borrowing costs remain lower than our expectation.