National Express pulls dividend, loses two employees to Covid-19

Coach operator National Express pulled its final dividend on Tuesday and said that two of its employees had passed away as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

National Express also said that "many" other colleagues were self-isolating, while some were receiving treatment for the coronavirus.

From an operational standpoint, National Express said it had delivered "significant" year-on-year revenue growth of 17% in the three months ended 31 March, but also noted a marked decline in revenue as services were withdrawn due to the virus.

Nonetheless, overall revenue for the period was still up 8.9% year-on-year at constant currency.

The FTSE 250 firm said that even in the unprecedented lockdown, it continued to generate positive underlying earnings and cash flow.

National Express, which suspended all UK coach services on 5 April, said the stoppage allowed it to significantly reduce the cost of operations, strengthening its overall operating cash position in the process.

Chief executive Dean Finch said: "We continue to make important progress in dealing with the impact of the pandemic across our businesses.

"National Express went in to this crisis with revenue up strongly across the group. I remain confident that we will emerge out of this unprecedented period with our portfolio of strong assets ready to return to delivering industry-leading service to our customers."

As of 0845 BST, National Express shares were up 5.18% at 272p.