Understanding National Express Group

National Express Group is a leading transport provider delivering services in the UK, North America and Spain.

Our key strengths

We have a diversified portfolio of bus, coach and rail businesses operating in international markets. Some of the key strengths of this portfolio include:

• Market leadership - in most of our markets we have strong or exclusive positions and compete primarily with other forms of transport, such as the car or plane. We are market leader in West Midlands bus and have a 60% share of the UK scheduled coach market with our National Express brand;
• Market knowledge - we have a deep understanding of and expertise in managing regulated concessions, which provide price protection, service exclusivity and stability. In Spain, our long-term concessions provide an "order book" of 7.2 years;
• Relationships - we have extensive experience in managing long-term contractual relationships. In North America school bus, our contracted order book is 4.1 years;
• Quality international assets - National Express uniquely benefits from a balanced exposure to the UK, Spain and North America, in bus, coach and rail. This portfolio provides a balance - economic growth, political environment and regulation can all vary. For example, recent uncertainty over UK government funding in UK Bus has been offset by benefits in our Spanish and North America businesses. These high quality assets offer access to many mass transport opportunities, as many countries move to liberalise their markets;
• Cash generation - our businesses balance cash generation with capital investment. Whilst North America school bus is capital intensive, for example, UK rail uses limited capital. We are able to reinvest surplus cash in areas that generate higher returns.

Our strategy

Our strategy will develop the unique attributes of this business portfolio in four stages:

1. Margin growth

through an unceasing focus on revenue and cost management

2. Organic growth

by offering better products and services and by winning new bid opportunities

3. Bolt-on acquisitions

by targeting opportunities to acquire operators which fit with our existing businesses

4. New growth options

enter new markets with scale potential

Our management 

Read our Board biographies

Our performance

National Express Group: At a glance

Group

The Group operates in the UK, Spain, and North America and employs 38,000 people and operates over 21,000 vehicles.

Passengers make more than 700 million journeys on our services every year.

Spain

Our Spanish business, ALSA, operates long distance, regional and urban bus and coach services across Spain and in Morocco.

ALSA was acquired by National Express in 2005, and our position in Spain was strengthened with the acquisition of Continental Auto in 2007. Apart from its market-leading position in bus and coach services, the business also operates service areas and other transport- related businesses, such as fuel distribution.

North America

Our business in North America is focused solely on student transportation and operates in 30 US states and two Canadian provinces.

The business operates through medium-term contracts awarded by local school boards to provide safe and reliable transport for students, and is the second largest private operator in North America.

Centralised shared services delivered from the Illinois head office support local operational delivery.

UK Bus

National Express is the market leader in the UK's largest urban bus market outside of London. We operate more than 1,600 vehicles and cover over 70 million miles per year. We also run bus services in Coventry and Dundee and operate the Midland Metro light rail service between Birmingham and Wolverhampton.

UK Coach

National Express Coaches is the largest operator of scheduled coach services in the UK. The business operates high frequency services linking over 1,000 destinations across the country, including major cities and airports.

We are the UK partner in the Eurolines network which serves over 500 destinations across Europe and North Africa.

UK Rail

National Express operates two rail franchises in the UK, both operating in the East of England. c2c serves destinations between London and South Essex. National Express East Anglia serves routes out of London and across Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex and Cambridgeshire, including the Stansted Express airport service.