By Guy Taylor Transport giant Firstgroup has hiked its dividend as profit surgedyear-on-year due to the strong demand for rail and bus travel. The FTSE 250 firm reported an adjusting operating profit of £204.3m, up from £161m, despite revenue dipping marginally to £4.7bn. Off the back of this profit jump, Firstgroup hiked its full-year dividend by 45 per cent to 5.5p. This is in addition to the £118m already returned to investors via share buybacks. On a statutory basis, the group reported a loss of £24.4m, but this was predominantly due to non-cash charges of £146.9m related to its exit from …