(Alliance News) - Transport firm National Express Group PLC said Thursday all businesses have delivered organic growth, helping the firm to record results.
National Express also pledged to not buy any more diesel-engine buses in the UK as part of its effort to become carbon neutral.
Revenue in 20129 was GBP2.74 billion, 12% higher than the year before. Pretax profit was 5.2% higher at GBP187.0 million.
Birmingham-based National Express declared a final dividend of 11.19 pence per share, taking the year's total to 16.35p. The company said the 10% increase in the annual dividend is the fourth time it has achieved this in five years.
"National Express has again delivered a record set of results. Revenue and profit are up strongly and free cash performance has beaten our expectations," said Chief Executive Dean Finch.
"All businesses have delivered organic growth. I am particularly pleased with North America achieving a 10% margin and significantly increasing the number of customers rating their services five-star. The group is also carrying significantly more passengers."
In North America, National Express's biggest unit, constant currency revenue rose 11% to USD1.57 billion. ALSA, the Spanish business, revenue increased 12% to EUR940.6 million.
In the UK, National Express's revenue rose 3.9% to GBP599.7 million, while German Rail revenue was up 34% to EUR102.5 million.
There were record passenger numbers in ALSA and the UK Coach business, National Express added.
Looking to 2020, it is "confident" on growth, and has maintained "good" momentum so far.
"We will benefit from a full year of earnings from our significant contract retentions, on improved terms, in Boston, Chicago, and Bilbao, alongside the contribution from major new operations in Rabat and Casablanca," said CEO Finch.
"Our 2019 acquisitions, especially WeDriveU, will add further growth and we retain a strong pipeline of further opportunities in all divisions. We will remain focused on securing organic growth across the group and combine this with close cost control, through examples such as the master schedule programme in North America, to drive cash generation and maintain strong margins."
Returning to emissions, National Express wants to have a fully zero-emission UK bus fleet by 2030 and UK coach fleet by 2035. Environmental targets will be included in all executive share schemes, it said.
The company wants its first electric coaches to be in operation in the UK by 2021, and will be placing a "major order" for electric buses in 2020.
CEO Finch said: "Bus and coach travel is already one of the greenest ways to get around, with each bus removing up to 75 cars from the road.
"National Express has already invested in clean buses and coaches and kept fares low to support a shift from private cars to mass transit. Working through our West Midlands Bus Alliance we have achieved the fastest passenger growth of any major city-region in the country, demonstrating its success."
"However we understand the imperative to go much further, so we are today setting out an ambition to be the first zero emission transport group in the UK," he continued.
"Our decision to never again buy a diesel bus in the UK coupled with our support in leading the zero emission transition in coach will place our UK operations at the forefront of efforts to tackle climate change and poor air quality. We simply believe this is the right thing to do for our customers, the communities we serve and our stakeholders," Finch added.
Shares were 2.5% lower on Thursday morning in London at a price of 402.35p each.
By George Collard; georgecollard@alliancenews.com
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