National Express considering options after being jilted by Stagecoach
Stagecoach dropped its support for a £1.9 billion tie-up with National Express and backed a £595 million rival offer by DWS Infrastructure.
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Bus and coach group National Express said it is “considering its options” after being jilted by merger partner Stagecoach in favour of a higher rival bid.
National Express remained tight-lipped on any further bid plans after Stagecoach ditched its support for their £1.9 billion tie-up on Wednesday and backed a £595 million takeover by German investment group DWS Infrastructure.
National Express said its board “will update the market in due course”.
The comments came as the group’s results revealed it swung to an underlying profit of £39.7 million in 2021, against losses of £106.1 million in 2020, and forecasted sales returning close to pre-pandemic levels this year.
On a statutory basis, it remained in the red with pre-tax losses of £84.9 million, but this was narrowed sharply from losses of £444.7 million in 2020.
National Express’s merger deal plans were dealt a major blow by Stagecoach’s decision to support a 105p a share cash offer from DWS.
Stagecoach said the new deal marked a significant improvement on National Express’s offer, which valued Stagecoach at around £470 million, while insisting it also offered greater certainty to workers and investors.
Stagecoach had agreed to the National Express deal in December, which would have seen its shareholders take a 25% stake in the enlarged group.
But since then, the Competition and Markets Authority CMA launched an investigation into the deal and served a so-called initial enforcement order in January stopping the firms from combining operations or selling any UK businesses while it carries out the probe.
Stagecoach said it would have been a “long and quite arduous process”.
National Express and the wider transport sector is still recovering from the pandemic and lockdowns, which sent demand plunging.
Passenger growth is returning as workers get back to offices, though soaring fuel prices amid the Ukraine crisis are keeping the sector under pressure.
National Express said while fuel prices have risen “significantly” in recent days, the group has fully-hedged its fuel needs for 2022 and around 65% for 2023.
It added that the rising costs of running a car “has the potential” to boost public transport demand.