City briefs: National Express; Melrose Industries

National express has revealed a loss before tax of £209.9m, a huge increase from last years loss of £84.9m.

The transport firm said this was driven by a £261m non-cash impairment of goodwill in its Spanish subsidiary ALSA, arising from a rise in discount rates.

The Digbeth-headquartered company saw revenue up by 29% to £2.8bn and an underlying operating profit of £197.3m, more than double than the previous year.

It experienced a surge in demand for its services as it reported a 23% increase in passenger journeys across the group. The demand has meant 900 net new drivers were added in 2022.

Last year, 35 new contracts were won, including the £150m RRX Lot1 contract in Germany.

Ignacio Garat, Group Chief Executive of National Express said: “Whilst the operating backdrop remains challenging, with inflationary pressures continuing in key markets, we expect to see that momentum continue, driven by growth in passenger numbers, mobilisation of new contracts, a continuing recovery in US School Bus and the securing of rate increases during 2023 and 2024 allowing us to recover cost increases.
 
“Our expectations for 2023 are unchanged, and we have clear and robust actions in place to mitigate macro-economic headwinds and to reduce costs if necessary. The continued and expanding demand for public transport over the coming years will bring growth opportunities and our Evolve strategy positions us well to capitalise on them”.

Birmingham manufacturer Melrose Industries has seen its statutory operating loss narrow from £493m, to £236m in 2022.

As its demerger of its GKN Automotive and GKN Powder Metallurgy businesses continues to take place, the firm saw revenue rise to £7.54bn, and traded ahead of expectations in 2022 on sales growth, profit and cash generation. This resulted it net debt coming in at lower than expectations at £1.14bn.

Justin Dowley, Chairman of Melrose Industries PLC, today said: “We are delighted with these results, and everything is on track for the demerger. We consider a restructured Aerospace business to be one of the best businesses Melrose has ever owned. 

“We are confident that a combination of restructured and refocused high class Engines and Structures businesses, and overall aerospace market recovery, positions these businesses for a significantly better than expected performance in 2023 and beyond.”