National Express expect to miss profit target
October 24, 2009 by Andrew Morgan
Filed under All News, Industry News, Transport and Traffic news
Transport giant National Express has announced this week that they expect to miss out on pre-tax profit targets which had been previously estimated. The news comes off the back of a failed take-over bid from one of the company’s biggest share holders, the Spanish Cosmen family.
The official line from National Express is that they will fall “slightly” short of the profit figure expected. The company admitted that the last three months had proved a challenge for them, add to the mix the falling passenger figures which they’ve been experiencing since the beginning of 2009, a debt amounting to £1 billion, and it’s no wonder the coach and rail operator is struggling to meet targets.
National Express has recently initiated talks with Stagecoach with a view to them putting in a take-over bid. One financial analyst, Andrew Fitchie, a Collins Stewart Analyst, said that National Express still has the potential to be a successful transport provider again, it just needs the right guidance, as he explained: “”There is clearly value in National Express, but the question investors have to ask, is who is best to unlock this?” Fitchie said. “Current trading clearly indicates this group needs a firm management hand on the tiller.”
The transport operator become ripe for a take-over after the news broke back in the summer that it could lose its franchise to run a rail service between London and Edinburgh despite being contracted until 2015. National Express also lost £20 million at the beginning of the year as a result of reduced passenger numbers.