TIDMNEX
RNS Number : 1441Q
National Express Group PLC
17 October 2019
National Express Group PLC: Trading Update
17 October 2019
STRONG TRADING OVER KEY SUMMER PERIOD
National Express Group PLC (or "the Group") today reports its
Trading Update for the period from 1 July 2019 to 30 September
2019.
Dean Finch, Group Chief Executive said:
"We had another good trading performance in our key summer
period. ALSA performed particularly well and our UK coach business
grew despite lapping a very strong comparative period last year.
North America posted strong growth, boosted by both our WeDriveU
acquisition and a good back-to-school performance including
improved wage control.
"With these results, the further delay to Spanish concession
renewal and our recent successes in winning, retaining and
mobilising significant contracts, our outlook remains positive. We
will continue to focus on operational excellence as the foundation
of our strategy to drive growing shareholder returns and maintain
profit growth in the coming years."
Group highlights
A good summer's trading, with all divisions growing revenue and
profit. Our Spanish and Moroccan division, ALSA, performed
particularly well. This drove a strong Group performance:
-- Group revenue was up 14.5% in reported terms (11.8% in constant currency);
-- Group Operating Profit grew 14.3% in reported terms (15.0% in constant currency);
-- Group Operating Margin was also up in the period.
This performance has been complemented by significant new
contract wins, renewals and mobilisations in the period which will
help sustain momentum in the medium term (as referred to in
yesterday's statement):
-- A EUR1 billion, 700 bus contract in Casablanca, for up to 15
years. Having doubled our presence in Morocco with our Rabat
contract, which started in August, Casablanca nearly doubles our
presence again.
-- The renewal and expansion of our second largest North
American transit contract, in Boston. This renewal is for up to 7.5
years, starts in January 2020 and will nearly double revenue to
$420 million across the contract.
-- Our new National Express Accessible Transport (NEAT) business
successfully started operations in the period, in the West
Midlands. This 400 vehicle operation helps build a strong
credential to target expansion in this interesting and growing
market.
The Spanish concession renewal process has been further delayed,
after a successful legal challenge by another operator against the
live tenders. These and future tenders will now be revised to
address the legal challenge. This further delay only reinforces our
previous guidance that any significant impact from the renewal
process on ALSA's earnings will not be felt for a number of
years.
Divisional highlights
ALSA: strong summer trading and significant new Moroccan
contracts
-- Revenue increased by 8.5% in constant currency, overwhelmingly driven by organic growth.
-- Passenger numbers for the division grew by 9.5%.
-- Every segment of ALSA's business grew both revenue and passengers in the period;
-- Revenue per kilometre for the Spanish operation grew by 7.9%.
-- A very successful mobilisation of our over 400 bus Rabat,
Morocco contract in August. After our success in Casablanca, ALSA
will be the sole operator in five of Morocco's six largest cities
and we are targeting further growth in both urban services and
entry in to the inter-urban market.
North America: the best ever back-to-school wage performance and
a major transit award
-- Revenue increased by 20.6% in constant currency, with our
recent acquisition WeDriveU performing in line with expectations
and therefore driving the majority of this growth.
-- A good back-to-school period was exemplified by the early
success of our wage control initiative:
o This delivered the best ever September wage-to-revenue ratio,
helping to drive an increase in school bus margin;
o It was achieved through a new standardised and audited driver
scheduling system, developed through the Delivering Excellence
programme;
o As well as firmly embedding and enhancing this approach, 2020
will see further Delivering Excellence initiatives to drive
efficiency and operational improvements.
-- In addition to our successful renewal and expansion of our
Boston paratransit contract, we have two small contract wins in New
York and another in Connecticut continuing our hub strategy,
growing efficiently from existing locations in major urban
areas.
UK: a good summer performance, despite lapping a very strong
comparative period
-- Positive trading across both our bus and coach businesses,
against a very strong comparative period last year, saw revenue
increase by 3.2%.
-- UK coach performed well in its key summer period:
o Core revenue was up 3.1%;
o Core passengers was up 3.9%;
o Core revenue per mile was up 3.0%.
-- UK bus maintained its revenue and passenger growth in the West Midlands:
o Commercial revenue increased by 0.7%;
o Commercial passengers increased by 0.4%;
o Revenue per mile was up 2.9%;
o Overall UK bus revenue was up 4.3%, after the inclusion of our
NEAT services.
-- National Express West Midlands was judged the safest public
transport company of all those audited across the world by the
British Safety Council.
Enquiries
National Express Group PLC
Chris Davies, Group Finance Director 0121 460 8655
Anthony Vigor, Director of Policy and External
Affairs 07767 425822
Louise Richardson, Head of Investor Relations 07827 807766
Maitland/AMO 020 7379 5151
James McFarlane 07584 142665
There will be a conference call for investors and analysts at
0900 on 17 October 2019. Dial in details are as follows:
UK Toll Number: +44 33 3300 0804
UK Toll-Free Number: 0800 358 9473
URL for international dial in numbers:
http://events.arkadin.com/ev/docs/NE_W2_TF_Events_International_Access_List.pdf
Participant pin: 12078241#
Legal Entity Identifier: 213800A8IQEMY8PA5X34.
Classification (referencing DTR6 Annex 1R): 3.1.
Notes
All revenue, profit and margin data are based on the Group's
continuing operations and refer to normalised results, which
exclude intangible amortisation for acquired businesses and results
for the period from discontinued operations. The Board believes
that this gives a more comparable year-on-year indication of the
operating performance of the Group and allows users of this
information to understand management's key performance
measures.
Unless otherwise stated, financial data are presented on a
constant currency basis, comparing the current period's results
with the prior period's results translated at the current period's
exchange rates. The Board believes that this gives a better
comparison of the underlying performance of the Group.
Cautionary statement
Information set forth in this announcement may contain certain
'forward-looking statements' with respect to National Express Group
PLC ('Company' or 'Group') and the Group's financial condition,
results of its operations and business, and certain plans,
strategy, objectives, goals and expectations with respect to these
items and the economies and markets in which the Group
operates.
Forward-looking statements are sometimes, but not always,
identified by their use of a date in the future or such words as
'anticipates', 'aims', 'due', 'could', 'may', 'should', 'will',
'would', 'expects', 'believes', 'intends', 'plans', 'targets',
'goal' or 'estimates' or, in each case, their negative or other
variations or comparable terminology. Forward-looking statements
are not guarantees of future performance. By their very nature,
forward-looking statements are inherently unpredictable,
speculative and involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to
events and depend on circumstances that will occur in the future.
Many of these assumptions, risks and uncertainties relate to
factors that are beyond the Group's ability to control or estimate
precisely. There are a number of such factors that could cause
actual results and developments to differ materially from those
expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. These
factors include, but are not limited to, changes in the political
conditions, economies and markets in which the Group operates
(including the outcome of the negotiations to leave the EU);
changes in the legal, regulatory and competition frameworks in
which the Group operates; changes in the markets from which the
Group raises finance; the impact of legal or other proceedings
against or which affect the Group; changes in accounting practices
and interpretation of accounting standards under IFRS, and changes
in interest and exchange rates.
Any forward-looking statements made in this announcement, or
made subsequently, which are attributable to the Company or any
other member of the Group, or persons acting on their behalf, are
expressly qualified in their entirety by the factors referred to
above. Each forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date it
is made. Except as required by its legal or statutory obligations,
the Company does not intend to update any forward-looking
statements.
This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the
London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct
Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United
Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution
of this information may apply. For further information, please
contact rns@lseg.com or visit www.rns.com.
END
TSTMFBFTMBJBBLL
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 17, 2019 02:00 ET (06:00 GMT)
Mobico (LSE:MCG)
Gráfica de Acción Histórica
De Mar 2024 a Abr 2024
Mobico (LSE:MCG)
Gráfica de Acción Histórica
De Abr 2023 a Abr 2024
