Express & Star

National Express plans to restart services on July 1

Bus, coach and rail group National Express has started selling UK coach tickets as it plans to restart services on July 1.

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National Express operates bus services in the West Midlands

The Birmingham headquartered company, which operates bus services in the West Midlands, said customers could buy rides on a "core coach network".

This will ensure that the relaunched services will respect government guidance and advice and will focus on large and medium-sized cities and urban areas.

It came as the business revealed that revenue halved in April, compared to the same month last year.

The drop is in line with what National Express recently told shareholders to expect.

However, the company said that its Ebitda (a measure of earnings stripping out the effects of interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) was a little ahead of expectations.

This was because of government and customer support, as well as a £100 million drop in monthly operating costs.

"This was further boosted by strong cash collections to drive positive cash flow for the month ahead of our expectations," the company said.

National Express added: "We have further improved our liquidity since our last update, and now have around £1.5 billion of cash and undrawn committed facilities."

Even as he asked those who cannot work from home to return to their jobs last Sunday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson urged them to stay away from public transport if possible.

National Express further revealed that it had won its first post-Covid US school bus deal after one of its rivals lost the contract because of disruption caused by the virus.

It is a five-year deal and follows recent contracts in Idaho, Alaska and California.

Lockdown measures are also being eased in Spain and Morocco, where National Express is strong.

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