(Alliance News) - National Express Group PLC on Thursday said reported a narrowed interim loss as easing lockdown restrictions at the end of the half enabled a return to mobility.
Shares in National Express were down 3.1% to 256.40 pence each in London on Thursday afternoon.
Pretax loss for the six months ended June 30 was GBP50.2 million, narrowed year-on-year from a loss of GBP122.2 million.
The Birmingham, England-based public transport operator posted revenue of GBP992.4 million, a fall of 3.8% from GBP1.03 billion a year prior.
The group has taken a series of actions across each of its businesses which has resulted in lower structural costs. Each division made permanent reductions to central costs, redesigning and relocating support operations. These restructuring programmes are expected to deliver annualised costs savings of around GBP100 million.
National Express decided against an interim dividend in respect of 2021, unchanged from the prior year when the firm also did not declare a dividend.
The start of the second half has seen a continuation of the improving trends seen in the first, and the company continues to project a robust improvement in the second half of the year as vaccination programmes enable a fuller return to mobility, the group said.
However, National Express feels it is still too early to provide guidance on the near-term outlook as there will be competing forces at play in the early days of reopening with the pent-up desire to travel working against any lingering concerns of returning to public transport.
"Looking beyond 2021, we are confident that the prospects for our business remain strong. There is an increasingly positive future for public transport as the provision of quality public transport is vital to both social and economic mobility, and is increasingly a critical component of how governments and local authorities around the world are tackling the challenges of climate change." the firm said.
By Amrit Sahota; newsroom@alliancenews.com
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