Agreement To Acquire Ensign Bus Company

FIRSTGROUP PLC

Agreement to Acquire Ensign bus company

• Agreement to purchase Ensign Bus Company Limited (‘Ensignbus’)
• Ensignbus is a high-performing business with strong positions in business-to-business (‘B2B’) and regional commercial bus operations in Essex, with a vehicle refurbishment and re-sale operation, and a high value depot
• Completion of the acquisition is anticipated in the next few months subject to customary regulatory review

FirstGroup plc (‘FirstGroup’ or the ‘Group’) today announces that it has signed an agreement to purchase Ensign Bus Company Limited. The acquisition of the Ensignbus business will not only provide a number of synergies and value accretive growth opportunities in the B2B and bus vehicle dealership markets, but it will also enhance the Group’s local commercial bus operations in Essex.

Ensignbus’ commercial bus operations comprise two B2B segments that include rail replacement and private hire contract operations and a local bus route network complementary to First Bus’s operations in Essex. The business has a young vehicle fleet of 55 buses that will require limited capital expenditure for several years. The Ensignbus specialist heritage fleet is excluded from the transaction.

In addition to its commercial operations, Ensignbus has a vehicle refurbishment and re-sale business that purchases used vehicles and refurbishes to modern standards before re-selling. This will benefit First Bus and the wider UK bus industry as the oldest, most polluting diesel buses are taken out of service. It is anticipated that the market for the resale of lower emission used diesel vehicles will continue to remain robust in the medium term, followed by the emergence of a similar market for the resale of zero emission vehicles.

If the acquisition completes before the Group’s FY 2023 year end, the Group anticipates a year end adjusted net cash position (pre IFRS16 and excluding ring fenced cash) of £70-80m, reflecting the ongoing buyback programme and the timing of net capital expenditure and working capital flows.

Graham Sutherland, FirstGroup Chief Executive Officer, said:

“The acquisition of Ensignbus, a long-established, high-performing business, will allow us not only to grow our B2B offering but to also enhance our operational footprint in Essex, and we look forward to welcoming Ensignbus employees to the Group. This is a strategically and financially accretive growth opportunity for us, and one that is fully aligned to our balanced capital allocation policy.”

Peter Newman, Ensignbus Chairman, said:

“I want to thank all of our employees at Ensignbus for their ongoing hard work to deliver great service for our passengers across all of our communities in Essex, and we will be supporting them fully as they move to their new employer. We’re pleased that First Bus, with their reputation for customer service, innovation and sustainability, will take the Ensignbus business forward as a going concern and we wish them a successful future. We will continue to serve our communities and operate our network as usual until the completion date.”

Contacts at FirstGroup: Marianna Bowes, Head of Investor Relations Stuart Butchers, Head of Corporate Communications [e-mail] Tel: [phone]	Contacts at Brunswick PR: Andrew Porter / Simone Selzer Tel: [phone]
Contacts at Liberum Capital Limited: Nicholas How / John Fishley / William Hall  Tel: [phone]	Contacts at RBC Europe Limited: James Agnew / Jonathan Hardy / Jack Wood Tel: [phone]

Forward-looking statements
Certain statements included or incorporated by reference within this announcement may constitute 'forward-looking statements' with respect to the business, strategy and plans of the Group and our current goals, assumptions and expectations relating to our future financial condition, performance and results. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, assumptions, uncertainties and other factors that cause actual results, performance or achievements of the Group to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. No statement in this announcement should be construed as a profit forecast for any period. Shareholders are cautioned not to place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements. Except as required by the UK Listing Rules and applicable law, the Group does not undertake any obligation to update or change any forward-looking statements to reflect events occurring after the date of this announcement.

Notes                                                                                                                                                         
Legal Entity Identifier (LEI): 549300DEJZCPWA4HKM93. Classification as per DTR 6 Annex 1R: 3.1

FirstGroup plc (LSE: FGP.L) is a leading private sector provider of public transport services. With £4.6 billion in revenue and more than 30,000 employees, our UK divisions transported nearly 1.5m passengers a day in the last financial year. First Bus is the second largest regional bus operator in the UK, serving two-thirds of the UK’s 15 largest conurbations with a fleet of c.4,900 buses. First Rail is the UK’s largest rail operator, with many years of experience running long-distance, commuter, regional and sleeper rail services. We operate a fleet of c.3,800 rail vehicles through four management fee-based train operating companies (Avanti West Coast, GWR, SWR, TPE) and two open access routes (Hull Trains and Lumo). We create solutions that reduce complexity, making travel smoother and life easier. Our businesses are at the heart of our communities and the essential services we provide are critical to delivering wider economic, social and environmental goals. We are formally committed to operating a zero-emission First Bus fleet by 2035 and to not purchase any new diesel buses after 2022; and First Rail will help support the UK Government’s goal to remove all diesel-only trains from service by 2040. In 2022 FirstGroup was named as one of the world's cleanest 200 public companies for the third consecutive year by sustainable business media group Corporate Knights in partnership with US not-for-profit organisation, As You Sow. Visit our website at www.firstgroupplc.com and follow us @firstgroupplc on Twitter.