Firstgroup Share Discussion Threads

[miata] 22/7/2013 17:22

Today is the first day of a new options month, so the large buys at the end of the day bode well for support for the next few weeks, though I fear the upside is limited.

22/07/13 17:10 94.852 750,000
22/07/13 16:35 95.000 619,075
22/07/13 16:44 94.8839 185,877

[robertfaulkner] 22/7/2013 17:13

Up a bit today, we just need a good report from FGP

[robertfaulkner] 21/7/2013 21:54

I went from Charing Cross to Pluckley return today, by rail(Southern not First Group, but the charges must be simular).

Pluckley is near Ashford and took just over an hour

On a Sunday when few people are traveling, the cheapest ticket is an Off Peak Return at £21.80 one way was £20.60 for just over an hour in an electric train.

If First Group can't make a very good profit with these sort of fares I'll eat my sun hat

[timbo003] 20/7/2013 06:26

Free bus passes for children coming? It certainly wouldn't do FGP any harm!

[miata] 18/7/2013 10:12

Still seeing healthy support volumes on the dips (ie 92p).

[dr biotech] 18/7/2013 09:53

That vote shows how lowly the board is rated - this RI was a disaster of their own making. What I can't understand it that the CEO reached all the targets set to get his full bonus (he has declined it). Just shows how out shareholders intersts are complete unaligned with their bonus scheme.

[miata] 18/7/2013 08:34

231,648,104 votes were cast against the directors remuneration report yesterday.

[kluk069] 18/7/2013 00:33

Bearing in mind both the old adage that hope is not a viable investment strategy plus the fgp track record it is only tangible evidence of progress that is likely to impress the market. The reaction could quite easily have been worse.

[slaterlpj] 17/7/2013 15:23

Well clearly nobody was very impressed with the interim statement.

[smurfy2001] 17/7/2013 10:43

Firstgroup PLC

P/E 15




Easyjet PLC

P/E 16



50p fair value here.

------

dealy 17 Jul'13 - 07:29 - 3282 of 3285 0 0

no surprises here.

i don't see why Easyjet should trade at 15 times earnings and this at only 7 times.

[miata] 17/7/2013 10:36

Easyjet's margins are twice Firstgroup's.

The jury will have to wait a long time.

Private equity is unlikely to be interested in a capital intensive, regulated, low margin business.

[dealy] 17/7/2013 10:23

This looks perfect for a private equity takeover. They will solve the management issues.

[kluk069] 17/7/2013 09:39

The question here appears to be whether management actually have the capacity to spend that one and a half billion in an effective manner. The jury will be out for a little while on that one.

[lefrene] 16/7/2013 22:23

Thank you for the link Miata, seems my experience is par for the course.

No doubt there is concerted effort to drive down costs, the staff appeared harassed and the drivers seemed to be doing very long hours, however judging by the way the buses are driven there is no incentive for the drivers to save on fuel consumption. The only incentive seemed to be free coffee and burgers at the fast food joints they raced to.

A private owner would be looking at add-on sales, such as food and drink and promotional clothing items, like caps and scarves. But to do that you have to free the customers from the servitude of waiting in line, simply done with modern queue control systems. None of this is being done, the franchise is not being grown it is simply being run into the ground, and this at a time when hard times are probably pushing more cutomers onto Greyhound. But instead of seeing this as an opportunity to secure customers for life, First Group are behaving like the UK motorcycle industry of the 1960's. As soon as a better offering is there those Greyhound customers will leave and never come back. This is incredibly basic stuff, but no one seems to think it worth attending to.

[miata] 16/7/2013 18:50

Doubt its got much to do with the ultimate owners, Greyhound wasn't great decades ago.

For more reviews:

[lefrene] 16/7/2013 18:31

As a customer I do not expect to stand in line for several hours just to get a seat. If this management had any wits and actually used their own buses they would soon provide a way of short notice passengers being allocated seats once the pre-booked seats had beeen accounted for. That way they could sell a lot more consumables to their passengers, who would not be stuck waiting in lines for literally hours and cursing Greyhound. In Boston there was open voluble envy of people riding with other bus lines from Canada and Maine. The Greyhound operation looks like a classic british muddle through approach with lost opportunity for commerce and damage to a global brand. Whoever is supposed to be overseeing Greyhound needs to have his salary slashed and given a months bus pass and live on the buses, then they will know what needs to be done to retain passengers and grow the brand. The disdain for their passengers is shocking, the lack of the simplest commercial sense is also very obvious.

I was travelling the length of the East Coast to do research on the working poor of the USA and, the effects of the slump on their lives. I couldn't believe how little regard Greyhound has for a high proportion of their customers, but not at all surprised when I later learnt they were owned by a british plc.

[smurfy2001] 16/7/2013 17:29

When you ride a greyhound bus you have no room to complain. What do you expect for such a cheap price?

[lefrene] 16/7/2013 17:28

Buy a two week pass on the Greyhound bus system, and if your experience is anything like mine it'll only take you an hour or two to realise that these guys have no idea how to look after customers, and how they appear to be devaluing a strong brand.

[smurfy2001] 16/7/2013 17:21

Might take a punt around 50p as that would be fair value.

P/E 15 here just too expensive.

[careful] 16/7/2013 13:16

comparing fgp with sgc (stagecoach)
fgp is a recover play.
a turnover of almost 7bn vs 2.8bn for stagecoach.

fgp is valued at 1.11bn after a big cash raising excercise.
scg is valued at 1.89bn (more) but is now more highly geared that even fgp after the rights.

if fgp get it right they should have much more upside.
their shares have been crushed, stagecoach riding high.

[miata] 16/7/2013 12:51

Its choosing the best place to plant an acorn (Firstgroup, Stagecoach, National Express) that is important.

A buy near 91p
16/07/13 11:59 91.647 32,734 O 91.35 91.6 Buy

[careful] 16/7/2013 12:21

It will take a long time to put fgp back on track.
..and good management.
if they get it right the potential is excellent.

what the market thinks short term is un unimportant.
plant an acorn and leave it.
why bet on the eventual size of the oak tree.
meaningless.

[slaterlpj] 16/7/2013 12:11

Judging by the fall in the sp, the market's expecting "usual claptrap".

Is the market right?

[seccol] 16/7/2013 11:29

Then it's all about If...