1st May 2008 07:01
National Express Group PLC01 May 2008 National Express Group PLC AGM Statement and Q1 Interim Management Statement National Express Group PLC ("the Group") is publishing its interim managementstatement for the period 1 January 2008 to 30 April 2008, ahead of the Group'sAnnual General Meeting being held later today. Trading update The Group has made a good start to the year and is trading in line withmanagement expectations. Spain We continue to enjoy good revenue growth in Spain, which is in line with ourexpectations. In particular, we achieved the 5% revenue growth assumption setout in our acquisition business case for Continental Auto. The integration ofthe two businesses has progressed as planned and we will realise the targetedsynergies. Our position as the number one private operator of public transportservices in Spain leaves us well positioned for the expected furtherliberalisation of the Spanish transport market. UK We are encouraged by the performance of the whole UK Division. The integrationprocess announced in July 2007 is substantially complete, with the £11 millionof annualised cost savings achieved. We are now seeing the benefit of having asingle management team responsible for all activities in the UK, particularly inthe areas of revenue and yield management. Our trains business has continued to perform in line with expectations and wehave continued to improve operational performance across all our train operatingcompanies. We have achieved overall revenue growth of 9% in our trains businessdespite a softening of demand on Stansted Airport routes resulting from lowerfootfall through the airport. At National Express East Coast ("NXEC") we have seen revenue growth of 11%. TheNXEC franchise commenced in December 2007, and the launch process has proceededas planned. We have also relaunched our National Express East Anglia ("NXEA") franchise,driven by our desire to make a significant improvement in our customers' travelexperience, as well as providing a platform for leveraging further value fromour strong brand. As part of these improvements NXEA is taking a leading role inimplementing the Department for Transport's plans for growth. The bus business saw 6% revenue growth. In the West Midlands we are continuingto see passenger growth in excess of 10% on the Quality Partnership routeslaunched to date, and we are pleased that a further 44 routes were launched inDudley last week under our Quality Partnership with Centro. Our regulated busoperations in London continue to perform well, achieving a 7% year-on-yearincrease in operated kilometres. The National Express Coach network saw encouraging revenue growth of 5% despitethe lower footfall at Stansted Airport. We expect our continued focus onproviding excellent value fares to drive sales in the important summer months.Our plans to grow new revenue streams are proceeding well, particularly in thespecial events business. North America Our North American school bus business continues to focus on the BusinessTransformation project which will deliver a step change improvement in theexperience of school boards and parents. Testing of the new processes will startin the second half of 2008 and we are excited by the opportunities this projectwill deliver for us. Revenue growth of 7% was driven by a combination of the 2007 bid season andorganic route growth. This is in line with our expectations. The 2008 bid seasonis not yet complete but we are pleased with our performance to date. Outlook Despite the current economic back drop, all operations have made a good start tothe year and we have seen no adverse impact on trading in the first quarter. Ourclear business strategy and our well balanced and diversified portfolio give usconfidence in the Group's prospects. This confidence is demonstrated through ourcontinued commitment to increase dividends by 10% for the next three years. We have provided increased certainty over our fuel cost exposure by increasingthe Group's fuel hedge position. We are currently 85% hedged for 2008 and 40%hedged for 2009. The strengthening of the Euro against the Pound since 1 January 2008 hasresulted in an increase in our reported net debt of around £70m. However, ourfinancial position remains unchanged as our €540m facility provides securityover adverse currency trends. Board changes Barry Gibson will be stepping down from the Board in the near future. Barrywill have served National Express as a Non Executive Director for over eightyears having joined the Board in 1999. He is currently the Senior IndependentDirector and Chairman of the Remuneration Committee. The Board thank him forhis outstanding contribution and wish him well for the future. We expect toannounce the recruitment of a replacement Non Executive Director for Barryshortly. Other Information National Express Group PLC is today publishing an interim management statementfor the first quarter of 2008, covering events in the period from 1 January 2008to 30 April 2008. The statement complies with the UK Listing Authority'sDisclosure and Transparency Rules. The revenue growth figures disclosed above are the like-for-like growth inrevenue achieved when comparing the three months ended 31 March 2008 to thethree months ended 31 March 2007. For acquisitions and train franchises, thelike-for-like adjustment restates the 2007 results to assume ownership of thebusiness in both periods. The Easter holidays occurred in the three months ended31 March 2008 but not in the three months ended 31 March 2007, thus benefittingtrading in 2008, and the like-for-like adjustments remove this benefit.Like-for-like revenue growth is assessed in local currency and so is notaffected by changes in foreign exchange rates. The interim results for the six months to 30 June 2008 will be announced onThursday 31 July 2008. - ENDS - For further information, please contact: National Express Group PLC +44 7795 267 453Richard Bowker, Chief ExecutiveGareth Wright, Acting Group Finance Director Maitland +44 20 7379 5151Neil Bennett / Suzanne Bartch This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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