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29 July 2021 National Express Group PLC : Half Year Results for the six months ended 30 June 2021 Consistently improving trajectory ; well positioned for recovery and growth Ignacio Garat , National Express Group Chief Executive said : " It is pleasing to see the continued improving performance trajectory across the Group over the first half of the year , despite ongoing Covid restrictions and I'm delighted to report a return to positive Underlying Operating Profit and free cash flow in the period . I am particularly pleased that we have increased Underlying Operating Profit by £ 54 million year on year despite reduced revenue , highlighting the impact of the cost reduction actions taken as well as the early impact of our ' Driving Excellence ' operational improvement programme in North America . Throughout this period , we have remained focused on the health and wellbeing of our colleagues and passengers ; working in partnership with governments and customers around our markets to deliver critical public transport services . I remain grateful both for the tireless work and commitment of our colleagues across the business and for the ongoing support from governments and customers , which is testament to the strength of the relationships that we have built over many years . As restrictions lift , we look forward to strengthening those relationships further as an ever more critical part of the solution to tackling climate change , with modal shift from cars to public transport leading the way to cleaner , greener and less congested cities . We are completing work on the business review and it is clear that we have significant profitable growth opportunities ahead . I look forward to communicating our findings and priorities in the autumn . We remain focused on managing what we can control and I am confident that as restrictions are lifted across each of our markets , we will see a strong recovery in both the demand for our services and in our financial results . " Financial summary Group Revenue Group EBITDA Group Underlying¹ Operating Profit / ( Loss ) Group Underlying¹ Profit / ( Loss ) Before Tax Underlying basic¹ EPS Statutory Group Operating Profit / ( Loss ) Group Profit / ( Loss ) Before Tax Group Profit / ( Loss ) After Tax Basic EPS Free cash flow Net debt² HY 2021 £ 0.99bn ● £ 128.2m £ 22.9m £ 0.1m ( 2.1p ) ( £ 26.1m ) ( £ 50.2m ) ( £ 24.1m ) ( 5.8p ) £ 40.6m £ 1,004.4m HY 2020 £ 1.03 bn national express £ 88.3m ( £ 30.6m ) ( £ 60.7m ) ( 9.9p ) ( £ 89.7m ) ( £ 122.2m ) ( £ 91.0m ) ( 17.3p ) ( £ 193.0m ) £ 1,322.8m Change ( 3.8 % ) 45.2 % Performed Ahead of Expectations in the Period Steadily improving performance over time in revenue , EBITDA , profit and cash generation with results slightly ahead of management expectations O Constant currency revenue broadly flat year on year despite two months of pre - pandemic revenue in 2020 45 % increase in EBITDA to £ 128.2 million . Positive Underlying Operating Profit and Underlying PBT O Underlying Operating Profit increase of £ 54 million despite revenue being broadly flat demonstrating the impact of the £ 100 million cost savings outlined at the 2020 Full Year results Positive free cash flow with 177 % cash conversion O Continuing trend of improving sequential performance despite ongoing Covid - related restrictions O H1 2021 EBITDA £ 30million higher than delivered in H2 2020 Balance sheet remains robust with strong liquidity O £ 1.0bn in cash and undrawn committed facilities after repaying CCFF and short - term facilities as planned . No material refinancing required until 2023 O Agreed an additional precautionary extension of covenant amendments out to and including June 2022 1