National Express "will not buy another diesel bus in the UK" following £250m revenue increase

A national transport company has announced that it will no longer buy diesel-fueled buses in the UK following a revenue increase of more than a quarter of a billion pounds.

National Express, which also operates overseas, reported that its revenue has gone up 12 per cent from £2.45bn in 2018 to £2.74bn.

The company attributes the growth partially to the acquisition of Silicon Valley shuttle service WeDriveU.

However, it also saw increases in the amount of passengers it had, growing 5.1 per cent year-on-year.

On the back of these performance increases, the company has proposed a 10 per cent increase in dividends for the fifth year running, rising from 14.86 pence to 16.35 pence.

Dean Finch, National Express group chief executive, commented: “National Express has again delivered a record set of results. Revenue and profit are up strongly and free cash performance has beaten our expectations. All businesses have delivered organic growth.

“I am particularly pleased with North America achieving a 10per cent margin and significantly increasing the number of customers rating their services five-star. The group is also carrying significantly more passengers.

“Major contracts were retained in North America and Spain. We became Morocco’s largest urban bus operator, with new contracts in Rabat and Casablanca more than tripling the size of our operations when fully mobilised.

“UK coach won its first overseas contract and West Midlands bus is adding routes and growing its accessible transport business.

“We combined organic growth in every division with continued diversification into complementary markets, such as our major WeDriveU acquisition which has grown [its] revenue by over 30 per cent. Each division has a strong pipeline of new acquisition and contract opportunities to target this year.”

Following the financial increases, the company also announced its new environmental policy, reporting that it hopes for its UK buses to become zero emission within the next ten years.

“As industry leaders we are delighted to make major pledges in the shift to zero emission vehicles.

“National Express will not buy another diesel bus in the UK and lead the transition to zero emission coaches.

“Our ambition is for our UK bus business to become zero emission by 2030 with UK coach by 2035.

“We believe these commitments are not only the right thing to do, but will also help strengthen the position of quality public transport in the communities we serve.”