National Express coasting along with two bolt-on acquisitions

Bus and coach operator National Express Group spread some festive December cheer with a small but bulging offering on Monday of positive recent trading and two overseas acquisitions.

The FTSE 250 group reported a good trading performance across all divisions in the past two months and that it had sold increased numbers of early festive tickets.

"We are encouraged by strong early Christmas trading in both our UK and Spanish coach businesses, with advanced sales higher than last year," the statement said. "Overall, we remain on course to deliver our profit, free cash flow and leverage targets for the full year."

The two small acquisitions were both completed in November; one in the US and the other in Spain, that are both designed to enable further expansion in existing markets and are expected to deliver returns of 15-20%.

In Cincinnati, Ohio the new addition is a school bus and coach business with 204 vehicles, adding to an existing presence in the Buckeye State.

This was accompanied by the purchase of a Madrid bus operator with 73 vehicles, that provides staff transfers for a large local airline and national bank headquarters, an urban transport contract in Guadalajara and school bus services in Madrid.