An 11% boost in passengers travelling to the seaside on the sweltering weekends and a record performance on its buses and coaches couldn’t stop first-half profit at National Express slipping 14% to £34.3 million.
The transport giant, which runs yellow school buses in the US, the c2c into Fenchurch Street, and the UK’s biggest scheduled coaches network, saw revenues rise from £934.1 million to £956.7 million in the six months to July.
But it took a big hit on its trains takings, mainly due to the loss of contribution from National Express East Anglia as the rail franchise ended last year. Rail revenues plunged 44% to £69.9 million in the first half.
However, other divisions boomed: NatEx said more Brits are taking its coaches to the airports, with passenger journeys up 16% to almost 5.5 million compared with the same time in 2012. It had a boost from Glastonbury, when NatEx coaches carried a fifth of the music lovers to the festival, and another from the Tour de France, as bookings on European coach business Eurolines rose 12% on the final weekend of the cycling competition.
