Firstgroup Share Discussion Threads

[skinny] 17/1/2014 07:06

Summary

• Overall trading in line with management's expectations, with good performance
in four divisions offset by slower progress in First Student

• First Student - recovery plan helping to mitigate tough market conditions,
medium term targets unchanged

• Continued strong performance in First Transit

• Greyhound - focus on cost management ensures margin performance remains on
course. Successful expansion of Greyhound Express continues

• UK Bus - transformation plan is on track, with positive signs from local
market growth initiatives

• UK Rail - continues to deliver solid passenger revenue and volume growth
across all our franchises


more...

[ianb5004] 15/1/2014 09:00

14 January 2014

FIRSTGROUP PLC
(`FirstGroup' or `the Company')

DIRECTOR DECLARATION

JOHN MCFARLANE, CHAIRMAN, TO RECEIVE ALL FEES IN SHARES

As announced on 6 December 2013, John McFarlane became Chairman of FirstGroup
plc on 1 January 2014.

John will receive an annual fee of £250,000 in respect of his role as Chairman
and has elected to receive all of that fee in FirstGroup shares, underlining
his confidence in the long-term prospects of the Company and aligning himself
closely with the interests of shareholders.

He has committed to hold those shares for as long as he remains Chairman or
otherwise a Director of the Company.

Contacts, FirstGroup:

[malcontent] 15/1/2014 08:30

I am waiting for this one to settle back and then take my stake....and the damn thing keeps on rising! Don't you just hate bull markets....

[ianb5004] 15/1/2014 08:28

chairman elects to be paid in shares... excellent vote of confidence

[ianb5004] 14/1/2014 09:23

Daily telegraph 2014 tips -

FirstGroup had a pretty rough 2012, when it was denied a multi-billion-pound contract to run rail services on the West Coast Main Line.
Unfortunately for the transport group's shareholders, 2013 turned out to be little better. In May, it announced a deeply discounted £615m rights issue. Then earlier this month, US activist investor Sandell Asset Management wrote to the board calling for a break-up of the group.
Sandell claims support from other shareholders, but analysts have largely dismissed the hedge fund's transformation plan, pointing out management extensively reviewed other options before announcing the rights issue.
But Sandell's presence on the shareholder register could be a catalyst for management to accelerate its turnaround. FirstGroup is investing £1.6bn over four years. It has named a new chairman, John McFarlane of Aviva, which was well received by the markets.
Clearly there are risks and miracles won't happen overnight, but it might finally be time to climb back on board the FirstGroup bus.

[ianb5004] 14/1/2014 09:22

100% buy

hxxp://www.barchart.com/opinions/stocks/FGP.LS

[sawadee3] 14/1/2014 09:08

Happy days chaps :-)

[skinny] 14/1/2014 07:06

JOHN MCFARLANE, CHAIRMAN, TO RECEIVE ALL FEES IN SHARES


As announced on 6 December 2013, John McFarlane became Chairman of FirstGroup
plc on 1 January 2014.

John will receive an annual fee of £250,000 in respect of his role as Chairman
and has elected to receive all of that fee in FirstGroup shares, underlining
his confidence in the long-term prospects of the Company and aligning himself
closely with the interests of shareholders.

He has committed to hold those shares for as long as he remains Chairman or
otherwise a Director of the Company.

[robertfaulkner] 13/1/2014 20:20

Closed on high of day, always a good sign

150p will be a real test

[warranty] 13/1/2014 18:41

Looking at the long term, they are undeniably worth more to keep than dispose of now.

[highpeak] 12/1/2014 20:52

I understand Sandell only has a stake of 3.1% in FGP (according to the Telegraph). Is that enough to apply pressure on the BOD? Perhaps he will need to buy more shares and/or get other investors on his side.

[slaterlpj] 12/1/2014 20:23

Groan. I hope not. Not another bloody return of value, ala Vodafone/Verizon.

[whum] 12/1/2014 20:10

could be interesting for sp--- today's press

"An activist investor is flying to London to put pressure on FirstGroup to break itself up, according to the Sunday Telegraph. Swedish billionaire Thomas Sandell will meet FirstGroup investors and his hedge fund will give a presentation at a Bank of America Merrill Lynch conference. He wants the transport group to sell Greyhound in the US and spin off its US yellow school buses and transit business. FirstGroup rejected the plan in December. A large investor told the paper the proposals were "fundamentally interesting" but that it was not clear they could be executed."

[slaterlpj] 11/1/2014 09:31

Maybe the share price is increasing in anticipation of the final dividend being announced. It's not likely that it will be announced until May, but this could be prompting buying in advance of the share price rising when (if) it is announced.

I see the share price is also very near to the TERP. Remember that?

[jpholmesjulian] 09/1/2014 14:25

wow!what caused that to happen?

[sawadee3] 09/1/2014 13:51

Easy 100% from the low chaps.

Happy days :-)

[slaterlpj] 09/1/2014 12:09

Serious uptick. A very welcome start for the new year.

Just to add more meat to Skinny's post.
hxxp://tickerreport.com/banking-finance/102127/firstgroup-plc-upgraded-to-buy-at-investec-fgp/

"FirstGroup plc (LON:FGP) was upgraded by stock analysts at Investec to a "buy" rating in a report issued on Thursday, Analyst Ratings Net reports. The firm currently has a GBX 160 ($2.62) price objective on the stock, up from their previous price objective of GBX 127 ($2.08). Investec's price objective would indicate a potential upside of 22.61% from the stock's previous close.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Analysts at Jefferies Group reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of FirstGroup plc in a research note to investors on Wednesday. They now have a GBX 125 ($2.05) price target on the stock. Separately, analysts at Deutsche Bank reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of FirstGroup plc in a research note to investors on Tuesday, December 24th. They now have a GBX 128 ($2.10) price target on the stock. Finally, analysts at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised their price target on shares of FirstGroup plc from GBX 135 ($2.21) to GBX 140 ($2.30) in a research note to investors on Tuesday, December 17th. They now have a "buy" rating on the stock. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. FirstGroup plc currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of GBX 134.64 ($2.21).

Shares of FirstGroup plc (LON:FGP) opened at 132.0644 on Thursday. FirstGroup plc has a one year low of GBX 90.30 and a one year high of GBX 189.945. The stock has a 50-day moving average of GBX 119.2 and a 200-day moving average of GBX 113.9. The company's market cap is £1.590 billion." -----

But of course, we should all be catious, bearing in mind that some analysts think the share is only worth 9p ;).

[robertfaulkner] 09/1/2014 10:05

fly baby fly

[skinny] 09/1/2014 09:52

Investec Buy 133.05 130.50 127.00 160.00 Upgrades

[slaterlpj] 07/1/2014 10:15

Is any of this recent strength to do with the stronger pound?

[robertfaulkner] 06/1/2014 17:30

Well it did close over 130p

[robertfaulkner] 06/1/2014 14:54

150p here we come

[sawadee3] 06/1/2014 14:14

The Transport sector had been ignored by the market for too long, everything blossoming nicely now though :-)

[slaterlpj] 06/1/2014 11:39

Nice little profit on the 85p RI shares now.

[ohbummer] 03/1/2014 12:16

Show some sympathy. If the poor chap has put his money where his mouth is he will be very poor indeed.