The Singaporean invasion of the British passenger transport market has been partially reversed, with Go-Ahead Group announcing a £230 million, five-year contract to run buses in the Asian city-state. Its contract covering the Loyang district is the first foray in the Singapore market by a British bus and train group.

David Brown, Go-Ahead’s chief executive, said that the group had pushed its status as London’s largest bus operator during the bidding. “We have a strong track record of providing passenger transport in busy urban areas,” he said.

In recent years, the flow of deal traffic has been largely in the opposite direction. Metroline, for example, one of London’s largest bus companies, is owned by ComfortDelGro, a Singapore-listed group that also runs Armchair and Westbus coach operations in the southeast and CityLink in Scotland, plus taxi operations in several cities.

Shares in Go-Ahead dipped 20p, or 0.8 per cent, to £25.73.