Transport group remains on right road to achieve its growth targets
National Express remains on the right road to achieve its full-year targets after enjoying strong summer growth.
The transport group, which is headquartered in Digbeth, increased its pre-tax profits by 12% in the three months to September. Group revenue was also up, rising 6%.
Its international divisions performed well while the group achieved “particularly pleasing results in a challenging UK market”.
“We have delivered another strong performance and remain on track to deliver our targets for the year,” said National Express group chief executive Dean Finch.
“I am pleased that we have both successfully addressed our challenges and exploited our strengths. We have reversed UK Bus’ decline; continued to secure growth in UK Coach despite the impact of terrorism; enjoyed perhaps our best summer in Spain; and secured a very strong school start up in North America, allied with the emergence of additional exciting growth opportunities.”
National Express highlighted cost savings within its domestic and international businesses. UK Bus and UK Coach combined some back office functions and streamlined operations after the group’s exit from UK Rail, delivering an annualised saving of £10m. Elsewhere, the results of an efficiency review in North America has found $10m (£7.5m) of annualised savings.
Finch added: “We will retain a relentless focus on efficiency, delivering both competitive prices for our customers and a strong cash flow.”
The FTSE 100 group has been trading steadily since it recovered from the post-referendum dip in its share price last year, and has been trading in a narrow range around 350p for most of the last 15 months. Last night’s closing price, of 342p, gave the group a market value of £1.75bn.
