National Express on growth course, to bid for more franchises |
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Tue, 28 Jun 2005 10:35
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LONDON: UK bus, coach and rail group, National Express Group, says its earnings for the first half ending 30 June are "in line with expectations'. The company, which runs 30 percent of the country's passenger trains, said the rail operations are faring well and the bus unit is able to absorb the increasing fuel costs.
In a trading update before announcing the interim results on 28 July, the company said that "earnings remain in line with expectations and that it continues to generate strong operating cash flow".
Cheaper tickets and improvements in the route network were the reasons for the "sustained growth" in the number of passengers traveling on its coaches during the first six months of this year, the company said.
"Despite increases in fuel costs, our bus operations are trading in line with expectations." The North American bus operations too had recorded increased profit margins.
The firm has acquired Tellings Golden Miller's bus operations for 20.4 million pounds to double its presence in London. It also announced that it will bid for the Greater Western and Thameslink/GN rail franchises in September.
Besides bus and coach operations, National Express owns the C2C, Midland Mainline, Great Northern, Silverlink, Central Trains, Gatwick Express, Stansted Express, Wessex and One rail systems in the U.K. and employs 11,500 people in the rail division. It had recorded 70 per cent increase in profits last year.
The group restated its 2004 results under International Financial Reporting Standards, which has led to a 1.2 per cent decrease in the 2004 full year normalized profit before tax and a 3.3 per cent increase in normalized diluted earnings per share.
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