Chief Executive Officer's statement
I am delighted to report our full year results for 2021 which demonstrated continued sequential improvement, and delivered financial results at the top end of expectations.
Ignacio Garat
Group CEO
09 March 2022

Indeed, we have delivered a steadily improving performance in revenue, EBITDA, operating profit and cash over the year, with the result that:
- revenue rose by 15.5% in constant currency to £2.17 billion;
- EBITDA rose by 60.8% to £300.0 million, an improvement of £113.4 million over 2020;
- Underlying Operating Profit improved by £137.8 million to £87.0 million;
- Underlying PBT improved by £145.8 million to £39.7 million;
- statutory loss before tax improved by £359.8 million to £84.9 million; and
- we delivered £123.4 million of free cash flow in the year, an improvement of nearly £320 million year on year, fuelling the rapid reduction in Gearing from 6.6 times at the end of 2020 to 3.6 times.
This performance has been driven by a number of factors. We have seen strong recovery in demand for our services as economies emerged from lockdown restrictions, with vaccination programmes allowing economies to reopen further and mobility increasing. We have benefitted from the management actions taken in 2020, with around £100 million of annualised structural costs permanently removed across the business. The ongoing support of customers and authorities has also contributed towards the improved performance in the year.
I am extremely proud of our colleagues across the Group who have continued to navigate through what has been another complex stop-start year, always ready to adjust to the varying restrictions in place in each of the territories in which we operate. I am also proud of the strong relationships with our customers across every division and how we have worked together to provide service as far as possible, allowing for the restrictions in place.
Maintaining
momentum
Our performance
During the pandemic we saw a short-term shift in transport use back to the private car. If this were to continue as growth normalises, we would see over 400 billion more passenger kilometres per year in North America and the UK alone.
Outlook
National Express had a track record of delivering strong and sustainable financial outcomes in the years before the pandemic and we expect to continue to deliver strongly over the coming years. We have seen consistently that as restrictions are lifted, demand recovers.