NATIONAL Express yesterday matched its rivals by reporting a strong start to the year.
The group, which runs rail, bus and coach services, said all of its operations in the UK were performing well, despite the uncertain economic conditions.
Shares in transport companies have risen in recent days after Go-Ahead and Stagecoach posted
trading updates ahead of market expectations.
National Express said yesterday that its trains business – which includes the east coast mainline franchise that it took over from GNER last December – produced revenues growth of 9 per cent in the first quarter of the year. National Express's other rail routes include London commuter services c2c and NE East Anglia, as well as operations to Stansted and Gatwick airports.
The rise in rail revenues came despite a drop in demand on Stansted airport routes because of lower passenger numbers at the airport. Ryanair recently cut back flights from Stansted after attacking the airport's cost and "appalling" service.
The same factor also affected the National Express coach business, although the division still reported "encouraging" revenues growth of 5 per cent. Revenues improved by 6 per cent in the bus operation, helped by 10 per cent passenger growth in the West Midlands and an improved performance for regulated bus operations in London.
The division operates more than 2,000 buses, employing 7,250 people across the UK.
Yesterday's update added to the group's strong showing in 2007, when underlying annual profits came in ahead of market expectations at £205.6 million, up 11 per cent from 2006.
National Express also runs transport services in Spain and the United States.
Yesterday's trading update said: "Despite the economic back drop, all operations have made a good start to the year and we have seen no adverse impact on trading in the first quarter".
National Express has provided increased certainty over its exposure to rising oil costs by hedging 85 per cent of its fuel requirement for this year and 40 per cent for 2009.
Investec Securities said it continued to forecast pre-tax profits of £203.1m for the current year, rising to £220.9m in 2009. It noted fuel price risks had diminished due to the hedging and said the widely feared slowdown in Spain was not evident in the trading update.
The full article contains 385 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
