FIRSTGROUP PLC - Statement re Greyhound property sales

FIRSTGROUP PLC - Statement re Greyhound property sales

PR Newswire

London, December 30

FIRSTGROUP PLC
GREYHOUND PROPERTY SALES

FirstGroup plc ('FirstGroup' or the 'Group') today announces three major property disposals, for total gross proceeds of USD137m or c.GBP102m, as part of its programme to rationalise Greyhound's property portfolio.

The largest is the sale of Greyhound's oversized legacy garage and customer terminal facility in the downtown arts district of Los Angeles, California to a subsidiary of Prologis, Inc. Under the agreement finalised and closed yesterday, Greyhound receives net USD88m in cash and will lease back the facility from Prologis for two years, during which time Greyhound will complete the moves of its terminal to a more convenient and attractive location for customers and of its garage operations to a more appropriately-sized site elsewhere. The Los Angeles site had a book value of USD11m as at 30 September 2020.

The other two property disposals announced today are of facilities in Denver, Colorado for net proceeds at the end of December of USD37m and in Ottawa, Ontario for net proceeds of USD7m. The customer terminal in downtown Denver has moved to Union Station resulting in a more convenient intermodal passenger offering and cost savings for Greyhound. Activities at the Ottawa garage were relocated as part of Greyhound's withdrawal of service from parts of Canada in 2018/19.

In total, all three properties' book value was USD24m as at 30 September 2020, resulting in a total profit on sale for all three transactions of approximately USD100m (net of leaseback, property tax and selling costs). The cash proceeds from the transactions will be used for general corporate purposes.

These transactions are a further step in the Group's rationalisation of the Greyhound property portfolio for value, reducing the operational footprint by moving operations to intermodal transport hubs or new facilities better tailored to customers' needs. The transactions follow the exit of six smaller surplus locations in the first half of the financial year. A number of other property sales processes are also underway.

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

Contacts at Brunswick PR:
Andrew Porter / Simone Selzer, Tel: [phone]

Notes
Classification as per DTR 6 Annex 1R: 2.2. This announcement contains inside information. The person responsible for arranging the release of this announcement on behalf of FirstGroup is David Isenegger, Group General Counsel and Company Secretary. Legal Entity Identifier (LEI): 549300DEJZCPWA4HKM93.

FirstGroup plc (LSE: FGP.L) is a leading provider of transport services in the UK and North America. With £7.8 billion in revenue in the year to 31 March 2020 and around 100,000 employees, we transported 2.1 billion passengers. 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 43,000 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 1.4 million passengers a day in 2020, and First Rail is one of the country's most experienced rail operators, carrying 340 million passengers in the year. Visit our website at www.firstgroupplc.com and follow us @firstgroupplc on Twitter.