Embargoed until 07:00hrs on Wednesday 12 May 2010 FIRSTGROUP PLC PRELIMINARY RESULTS FOR THE YEAR TO 31 MARCH 2010 ROBUST PERFORMANCE AND INCREASED CASH GENERATION IN CHALLENGING TRADING ENVIRONMENT • Resilient performance despite impact of recession on trading and increased hedged fuel costs of c.£90m • Successfully delivered cost reduction programme – exceeded target of £200m of annual savings • Flexible operating models – delivered mileage reductions to protect revenue per mile • Exceeded cash targets – £136m net cash generated and used to reduce net debt • Confident of further opportunities within Group to accelerate deleveraging plans • Increased net cash generation target to £150m in 2010/11 NORTH AMERICA – COST AND OPERATING EFFICIENCIES MAINTAINING INDUSTRY LEADING MARGINS • First Student – strong contract retention >90%, cost actions offsetting margin pressure from weaker economy • First Transit – further margin improvement – increasing market share through new contract wins GREYHOUND – FLEXIBLE MODEL, ENCOURAGING REVENUE TRENDS • A robust performance in toughest year – mileage reduced by >11% to protect margin and revenue per mile • Encouraging passenger revenue trends continue UK BUS – STEADY AND RESILIENT, COST AND MILEAGE REDUCTIONS PROTECT MARGIN • Like-for-like passenger revenue growth up 1.9% • Cost control and network management protecting margin despite fuel cost increase UK RAIL – STRONG PERFORMANCE AHEAD OF EXPECTATIONS • Like-for-like passenger revenue growth up 2.3% – encouraging trends continue • Cost actions underpin performance – operating profit margin broadly in line with prior year FINANCIAL SUMMARY 2009/10 Revenue £6,319.3m (2009: £6,187.3m) Adjusted operating profit 1 £453.9m (2009: £497.5m) Operating profit £368.5m (2009: £371.1m) Adjusted EBITDA 2 £769.6m (2009: £772.2m) Adjusted profit before tax 1 £264.0m (2009: £326.4m) Profit before tax £179.6m (2009: £200.0m) Adjusted basic earnings per share 1 39.5p (2009: 48.6p) Basic earnings per share 27.5p (2009: 30.2p) Dividend per share 20.65p (2009: 18.75p) Net debt 3 £2,281.5m (2009: £2,503.5m) 1 Before amortisation charges, hedge ineffectiveness on financial derivatives, non-recurring bid costs, other non-recurring items and (loss)/profit on disposal of properties, as shown in the consolidated income statement on p.24. 2 Adjusted operating profit as defined plus depreciation. 3. Net debt is stated excluding accrued interest. 1 Commenting, FirstGroup's Chief Executive, Sir Moir Lockhead said: “The Group has delivered a resilient performance in line with management expectations against the backdrop of a challenging trading environment and significantly higher hedged fuel costs which increased by approximately £90m during the year. “Our clear strategy to lead the Group through this tough trading environment enabled us to take prompt and decisive action to mitigate the impact of the recession on trading. We have a strong track record in cost management and the actions we have implemented during the year have delivered annual savings of over £200m. Rigorous management of our networks on a route by route basis has ensured that service provision closely matched changing demand and revenue per mile was maintained. “Looking ahead we anticipate the new financial year will remain challenging. While we are encouraged by improving revenue trends in parts of our business, consistent with economic recovery, the global economic outlook remains uncertain and we expect the pressure on public spending in North America to continue. Despite these challenges we are confident that the Group will return to earnings growth in the coming year. The Group will continue to benefit from a diverse portfolio of businesses providing strength and resilience as they continue to trade robustly through the economic cycle. “We have set out our clear priorities to increase net cash generation and reduce net debt. We have increased the Group’s net cash generation target to £150m for 2010/11. The continued strong cash generation supports our objectives of targeted capital investment, accelerating our deleveraging plans and delivering sustained real dividend growth for investors. “Looking ahead the Board is confident of the inherent strength and resilience of the Group, an expected return to earnings growth and strong cash generation supports the Board’s commitment to dividend growth of at least 7% per annum over the next three years. “We have established leading positions and critical mass in all our core markets and believe that each of our businesses has significant potential for long-term growth. The actions we have taken have created a stronger, more efficient base and will ensure that the Group is well placed to continue to deliver long term value for shareholders.” “While it is still early in the new financial year, overall the Group has continued to trade well and is in line with our expectations.” Enquiries FirstGroup plc: Sir Moir Lockhead, Chief Executive Tel: +44 207 291 0512 Jeff Carr, Finance Director Tel: +44 207 291 0512 Rachael Borthwick, Corporate Communications Director Tel: +44 207 291 0508 / +44 7771 945432 A CONFERENCE CALL OF THE PRESENTATION TO ANALYSTS WILL BE HELD AT 9:00AM ON WEDNESDAY 12 MAY 2010 FOR DETAILS PLEASE CONTACT FIRSTGROUP TEL: 020 7291 0507 PHOTOGRAPHS FOR THE MEDIA ARE ALSO AVAILABLE 2 NOTES TO EDITORS FirstGroup plc is the leading transport operator in the UK and North America with revenues of over £6 billion a year. We employ more than 130,000 staff and transport some 2.5 billion passengers a year. North America contract businesses Headquartered in Cincinnati, FirstGroup America Inc. operates across the US and Canada. The Group’s contract businesses include Yellow School Buses (First Student), Transit Contracting and Management Services (First Transit), Vehicle Fleet Maintenance and Support Services (First Services). o First Student is the largest provider of student transportation in North America with a fleet of approximately 60,000 yellow school buses, carrying some 6 million students every day across the US and Canada. o First Transit is one of the largest private sector providers of transit management and contracting, managing public transport systems on behalf of city transit authorities. It is one of the largest providers of airport shuttle bus services in the US and also manages call centres, paratransit operations and other light transit activities. o First Services is the largest private sector provider of vehicle maintenance and ancillary support services in the US. Providing fleet maintenance for public sector customers such as the Federal Government and fire and police departments. It also provides support services to public and private sector clients. Greyhound Greyhound is the only national provider of scheduled intercity coach services in the US and Canada. Based in Dallas, Greyhound provides scheduled passenger services to approximately 3,800 destinations carrying approximately 20 million passengers a year. UK Bus The Group is Britain’s largest bus operator running more than one in five of all local bus services. A fleet of some 8,500 buses carries approximately 3 million passengers a day in more than 40 major towns and cities. We also operate Greyhound UK providing regular services each way between London and Bournemouth, Portsmouth and Southampton. UK Rail The Group operates one quarter of the UK passenger rail network, with a balanced portfolio of intercity, commuter and regional services, carrying over 280 million passengers a year. o We are the UK’s largest rail operator with four passenger franchises – First Capital Connect, First Great Western, First ScotRail and First TransPennine Express – and one open access operator, First Hull Trains. o We provide rail freight services through First GBRf and operate the London Tramlink network on behalf of Transport for London carrying over 28 million passengers a year. Europe In mainland Europe we operate some 150 buses in south west Germany and, with our partner DSB, we operate the Øresund rail franchise which includes routes in and between Denmark and Sweden. 3 Chairman’s statement As we expected, the continued economic weakness presented a number of challenges for the Group during the year. The impact of the recession on passenger volumes in the UK and North America and pressures on public spending in North America were combined with significantly higher hedged fuel costs during the year. Our strategy to build a diverse portfolio of operations has delivered a resilient performance during the year despite the tough trading environment and, as parts of our business moved through the economic cycle at different times, ensured that the Group is not wholly dependent on one market. We had a clear strategy to lead the Group through these challenging times and took prompt and decisive action to mitigate the effects of the recession. A significant programme of cost reduction was delivered during the year together with rigorous network management to ensure that service provision was closely matched to changing demand. Against this backdrop we continued to focus on safety and customer service. The provision of safe, high quality and reliable services is our key priority and during the year we made further advances in these areas as we continue to develop our industry-leading initiatives. The Group’s capital structure was further strengthened during the year as we made progress in executing our plan to extend the maturity profile of our net debt and reduce reliance on bank finance with the issue of £350m and £200m bonds in April and September 2009 respectively. Both bond issues attracted strong support from fixed income investors demonstrating the continued confidence in the underlying strength and resilience of the Group. The maturity profile of the Group’s net debt is now 6.3 years. In addition the Group continues to have a strong liquidity position with over £1bn of headroom available under committed revolver facilities. Net debt reduction is a key priority for the Group. Despite the challenging trading environment during the year I am delighted that we have exceeded our target for net cash generation which will be used to reduce net debt.