If Alexander Dennis is to generate £1billion turnover for new owner NFI Group by 2022, it will do it by supplying buses to an ever-greater number of global markets.
From £195million at its formation in 2004, when it supplied only the UK and Hong Kong, it reached £631million last year with customers gained across North America, Singapore, New Zealand and Switzerland. £281million of that was generated outside the UK, helping drive a year-onyear increase in pretax profits from £24.4million in 2017 to £28.2million, a margin increase from 4.2% to 4.5%.
Chief executive Colin Robertson believes the proportion of export business could grow to between 60% and 70% if the £1billion turnover target is met in 2022/23, further insulating the business against its exposure to downward fluctuations in demand in the UK, which show no signs of recovering any day soon, even if Alexander Dennis is making gains against some of its domestic market competitors
To achieve that growth, it is exploring possible opportunities in selected regions across the world. These include most of South America other than Brazil and Venezuela, Australia and much of the Asia Pacific region, western and central Europe including Ukraine and Bel…
