Investec slapped a BUY reco on this late yesterday whilst broker Panmure has a firm hold.


National Express Group PLC

FORECASTS
2009 2010

Date Rec Pre-tax () EPS (p) DPS (p) Pre-tax () EPS (p) DPS (p)

Investec Securities
07-12-09 BUY 116.00 29.93 137.18 35.46

Panmure Gordon
07-12-09 HOLD 118.98 30.88 143.17 37.16

StockMarketWire.com
National Express (NEX) grew its normalised pre-tax profit by 11% at constant currency to £88.9m in the first half of the year.

Group revenues grew by 6.5% to £1.17bn.

The group increased its dividend by 10.1% to 4.26p.

The North American and ALSA divisions delivered a record half year, with profit increases of 8.2% an 9.2% respectively.

Dean Finch, National Express group chief executive, said this more than offset challenging trading in the UK.

"We continue to see the benefit of our recent acquisitions in driving good growth and creating shareholder value. These acquisitions are also helping us to expand in new growth markets, but we will remain disciplined in the opportunities we pursue," he added.

StockMarketWire.com
National Express Group said it had completed two small acquisitions in the US and Spain, while affirming that current trading conditions met its expectations.

The acquisitions, for which purchase prices weren't disclosed, included a school bus and coach business with 204 vehicles, based in Cincinnati, and a Madrid-based bus operator with 73 vehicles.

"We continued to see a good trading performance across all of our divisions during October and November, in line with the trends set out in our most recent trading update," the company said.

"We are encouraged by strong early Christmas trading in both our UK and Spanish coach businesses, with advanced sales higher than last year."

"Overall, we remain on course to deliver our profit, free cash flow and leverage targets for the full year."

StockMarketWire.com
National Express Group said an initial assessment of new US tax legislation indicated it would lead to a reduction in the company's effective tax rate from January 1 this year.

The company forecast that the rate would reduce to a percentage point figure in the low 20s, down from a previously anticipated high 20s.

"It is also expected that the measures outlined in the Act will lead to a small tax credit in 2017," the company said. "This is due to the revaluation of deferred tax balances and will be included in the group's 2017 full year results."

National Express said it closed 2017 with a continuation of the positive trading momentum identified in its December trading statement.

StockMarketWire.com
National Express made a profit before tax of £200m in 2017, up 11.7% on the previous year.

Group revenue increased by 6.1% to £2.32bn, with growth across all of the portfolio.

The group achieved particularly strong performances in both North America and ALSA, with revenues up 10.1% and 3.6% respectively.

The group's performance in the second half of 2017 in the UK reversed the declines seen in the first six months, to deliver annual revenue growth of 0.6% in the bus and coach businesses.

German rail saw a 20.4% increase in constant currency, in part due to a recognition of revenues that were not included in the 2016 accounts.

Free cash flow increased to £146.4 million (2016: £138.6m) and the group's gearing reduced to 2.3 times EBITDA.

The company is proposing a 10% increase in the final dividend to 13.51p

Deutsche Bank today reaffirms its hold investment rating on National Express Group PLC (LON:NEX) and raised its price target to 390p (from 380p).

Liberum Capital today downgrades its investment rating on National Express Group PLC (LON:NEX) to hold (from buy) and cut its price target to 410p (from 420p).

StockMarketWire.com
Bus and train service operator National Express Group said revenue grew by 6.2% in the first fourth months of the year on a constant currency basis, boosted by a strong performance at its North American bus business.

On a reported basis, revenue grew by 1.7%.

Revenue from the North American operation grew 9.0% on a constant currency basis, which the company said reflected the benefit of recent acquisitions and 'robust' underlying trading, despite the impact of school closures after a period of severe snow.

A 'sizeable proportion' of the lost schools days were expected to be made up within the first half of the year, National Express said.

The UK bus and coach businesses grew sales by 0.7% and 2.3%, respectively, while revenue at the German rail business fell by 0.7%.

'We remain on track to meet our full year profit and cash flow expectations,' chief executive Dean Finch said.

UBS today downgrades its investment rating on National Express Group PLC (LON:NEX) to neutral (from buy) and raised its price target to 415p (from 410p).

StockMarketWire.com
National Express Group said it had been awarded a major bus contract in the cities of Rabat, Sala and Temara in Morocco.

The 500-bus contract, expected to carry 109m passengers a year across 61 routes, would source an anticipated €1bn of revenue over its life, the company said.

It was initially for 15 years, with an option of a further seven-year extension, with services commencing within a year. 'It is particularly pleasing that our track record for service excellence in Morocco played a significant part in this successful bid,' chief executive Dean Finch said.

'We hope to build on this success and secure further expansion in the coming years.'

StockMarketWire.com
National Express said statutory half year pre-tax profit jumped 24% to £80.1m in the first half of 2018.

The transport operator reported growth in free cash of over 3% to £85.2m and raised full year guidance to £170m.

ROCE increased by 20 basis points to 12.2%; net debt gearing held flat at 2.3x EBITDA and the interim dividend increased by 10.1% to 4.69p.

SALES GROWTH HIGHLIGHTS:
- North America: grew by 9.7% in constant currency to $753.2m;

- ALSA: grew by 7% in constant currency to €395.7m;

- UK: grew by 0.8% to £273.6m, with strong commercial growth in core coach (5.2%) offset by last year's strategic exit from two operations;

- German Rail: declined 1.3% in constant currency, as last year benefitted from catch up revenues (up 5.6% on an underlying basis).

CEO Dean Finch said: "National Express has had another strong start to the year, delivering its best ever half year statutory profit, up 24% year-on-year.

"Our increasingly diversified portfolio has again delivered strong results and has entered a new phase of expansion in to complementary growth markets.

"All of our divisions have grown revenue, profit and commercial passengers through a relentless focus on good customer service and technology investment.

"We also continue to make disciplined acquisitions that help grow our portfolio strategically.

"We have made seven acquisitions so far this year and have entered new fast-growing markets, providing avenues for interesting future expansion.

"Our pipeline of new opportunities remains strong and growing.

"This combination of growth in our core business and the number of exciting new opportunities allows us to again increase the interim dividend by 10%.

"We remain on course to deliver the board's expectations."

Exane BNP Paribas today reaffirms its outperform investment rating on National Express Group PLC (LON:NEX) and set its price target at 610p.

Morgan Stanley today downgrades its investment rating on National Express Group PLC (LON:NEX) to equal weight (from overweight) and raised its price target to 705p (from 680p).

A very good company. Use them from Londinium to Stansted and back. 680p looks a long way off though.

StockMarketWire.com
International coach travel company National Express reported a good summer of trading with group revenue up 8.9% in constant currency terms, boosted by "outstanding" UK coach and "particularly strong" Spanish division performances.

With group profit before tax up 10.7% in constant currency terms for the period from 1 July to 30 September, and year-to-date PBT growing 16%, the company expected to continue this positive momentum in the medium term.

"We had a good summer's trading, with our UK coach business in particular delivering outstanding organic growth. Group revenue and profit are up strongly and we are carrying more passengers. We expect this momentum to continue in our traditionally quieter fourth quarter," said Dean Finch, Group Chief Executive.

Looking forward, the company said its outlook remained positive amid still paused Spanish concession renewals (indicating there would be no impact from this in 2019), a major contract starting during 2019 in Rabat and encouraging pricing trends in North America,

"Our continued focus on cashflow and operational performance should allow us to continue to grow profit in the years ahead," added Finch.