National Express ‘faces sell-off pressure’
BIRMINGHAM-headquartered National Express is reported to be facing pressure from a major shareholder to put itself up for sale.
The Sunday Times said the move by 16% shareholder Elliott Management, a US hedge fund, could lead to a tie-up with rivals Stagecoach, or a sale to the French state-owned transport group SNCF.
In 2009, National Express was forced to return its franchise for the East Coast rail line, but new CEO Dean Finch is credited with turning around the group and resisting several hostile takeover bids.
National Express has a market value of £1.3 billion and has restructured its bus business and won a two-year extension to another rail franchise in the South East.
The transport group said in December it had made strong progress during the final quarter 2010 which was consistent with on-going growth in year-on-year profitability.
As a result of the strong performance, the board said it expected pre-tax profits were likely to be ahead of current market expectations and markedly stronger than was expected back in January 2010.
The company said all parts of the business had performed well with good revenue generated in its UK coach and rail operations. Margin recovery in the UK bus market – where it operates Travel West Midlands – was also strong, while its businesses in North America and Spain were robust.
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