Senior Management Review

Making travel simpler

A year ago, I described National Express as a business in great shape, but with even greater potential.

Our results for the past year confirm that we have begun to realise that potential, for the benefit of all our stakeholders. As we make further progress in implementing our strategy, customers will see the increasing difference it makes when a transport business becomes truly customer centred. Employees will be energised as the business moves emphatically onto the front foot. And investors will see how these changes fundamentally strengthen our ability to create value.

Our strategy

Too often, public transport is operationally focused rather than customer led. Passengers are seen in the abstract, rather than as individual consumers who make choices. This gives us an enormous opportunity to stand out in the marketplace and attract more customers by changing their perceptions of public transport. A company that understands and creates strong relationships with its customers will greatly enhance its value. So if we take the trouble to give people a service they want and will pay for, everyone can be a winner.

This ambition could not be more timely. The whole of society is rightly concerned about congestion, atmospheric pollution and, more than ever, global warming. Public transport is increasingly recognised as a crucial part of society’s response to these challenges. So our social and commercial missions are wholly aligned. But only if people believe that travelling with us will actually improve their quality of life. Only if we can genuinely make travel simpler.

Our strategy for growing the business remains clear and simple:

• Reorient the Group around a more customer-driven, branded proposition
• Develop new products and services and grow organically
• Acquire businesses in marketswhere we can add value

We have been doing all these things in the past year, and will continue to do them. Our progress so far has convinced us that we are able to deliver this strategy, that it creates value, and that it gives us an edge over other businesses in our sector.