National Express
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| Public | |
| Traded as | : |
| Industry | Public transport |
| Founded | 1972: National Express branding 1992: National Express Group plc |
| Headquarters | Birmingham, United Kingdom |
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Area served
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Europe and North America |
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Key people
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Sir John Armitt (Chairman) Dean Finch (Group Chief Executive) |
| Products | Bus, coach, train & tram services |
| Revenue | £1,919.8 million (2015) |
| £193.5 million (2015) | |
| £109.1 million (2015) | |
| Website | www |
National Express Group plc is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Birmingham that operates bus, coach, train and tram services in the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Spain, Portugal, Malta, Germany and Morocco and long-distance coach services across Europe. It is listed on the and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.
In 1972 the state owned National Bus Company decided to bring together the scheduled coach services operated by its bus operating companies in the United Kingdom under one brand. Sir Frederick Wood, a prominent businessman and industrialist, was asked to oversee the creation of this new business model and led the group as its chairman from 1972 to 1978. Initially branded as National, the National Express brand was first used in 1974.
With the privatisation of the National Bus Company in the 1980s, National Express was subject to a management buyout in March 1988. The management team began to diversify, and in 1989 purchased Crosville Wales but its financial performance began to deteriorate from early 1990. A new management team took over the company in July 1991, with the backing of development and venture capital investors. The new team refocused the group on its core activities and sold Crosville Wales to British Bus. In October 1991 it purchased Speedlink, an operator of coach services between Gatwick and Heathrow Airports. In December 1992 National Express Group plc was floated on the .
In 1993 Scottish Citylink, Eurolines and East Midlands Airport were acquired. In April 1995 National Express purchased West Midlands Travel, the formerly council owned bus network of Birmingham and the West Midlands and rebranded it Travel West Midlands in September 1996. This began the brand family of Travel ... local bus operations. Bournemouth Airport was acquired in April 1995.
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Wikipedia