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 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.