FIRSTGROUP PLC - Statement re shareholder notice from Coast Capital

11 May 2019

FIRSTGROUP PLC
STATEMENT RE SHAREHOLDER NOTICE FROM COAST CAPITAL

FirstGroup plc (“FirstGroup” or the “Company”) announces that it has received a requisition notice dated 10 May 2019 from Hermes-Golden Limited, a company managed by Coast Capital Management LP (“Coast Capital”), to call a general meeting of the Company.

Coast Capital, who have notified the Company that it holds 9.77% of the Company’s issued share capital, have proposed resolutions to take control of the Board of FirstGroup by removing six of the current eleven Directors and appointing seven of their nominees.

The Board of FirstGroup are focused on delivering shareholder value and are confident that the Company has the right team with the right experience and plans in place to do so. The Board regularly reviews its composition to ensure it maintains an appropriate balance of skills and expertise, and new Board members have been added, as recently as earlier this month.

As previously indicated to the market, the Company will be releasing its full year results and updating on progress and strategy on 30 May 2019.

FirstGroup considers the views of all shareholders and, accordingly, will continue to engage with Coast Capital having attempted to do so constructively for more than a year. The Company’s engagement with Coast Capital has included detailed responses to several proposals and has involved a number of meetings with the Chairman and with senior management.

The Board will be writing to shareholders regarding the requisition notice in due course.

THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONTAINS INSIDE INFORMATION. The person responsible for arranging the release of this announcement on behalf of FirstGroup is Michael Hampson, Group General Counsel and Company Secretary. Classification as per DTR 6 Annex 1R: 2.2. Legal Entity Identifier (LEI): 549300DEJZCPWA4HKM93.

Contacts at FirstGroup:
Faisal Tabbah, Head of Investor Relations
Stuart Butchers, Group Head of Communications
Tel: [phone]

Contacts at Brunswick PR:
Andrew Porter / Alison Lea, Tel: [phone]

About FirstGroup
FirstGroup plc (LSE: FGP.L) is a leading provider of transport services in the UK and North America. With £6.4 billion in revenue and around 100,000 employees, we transported 2.1 billion passengers last year. Whether for business, education, health, social or recreation – we get our customers where they want to be, when they want to be there. We create solutions that reduce complexity, making travel smoother and life easier.

We provide easy and convenient mobility, improving quality of life by connecting people and communities.

Each of our five divisions is a leader in its field: In North America, First Student is the largest provider of home-to-school student transportation with a fleet of 42,500 yellow school buses, First Transit is one of the largest providers of outsourced transit management and contracting services, while Greyhound is the only nationwide operator of scheduled intercity coaches. In the UK, First Bus is one of Britain's largest bus companies with 1.6 million passengers a day, and First Rail is one of the country's largest and most experienced rail operators, carrying more than 260 million passengers last year. Visit our website at www.firstgroupplc.com and follow us @firstgroupplc on Twitter.

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