Statement re: Shorlisting for two rail competit...

FIRSTGROUP PLC                                 
                         (`FirstGroup' or `the Group')                         
                                                                               
             Statement re: SHORTLISTING FOR TWO RAIL COMPETITIONS              



FirstGroup has been shortlisted for the Caledonian Sleeper franchise
competition by the Scottish Government. The Group currently operates the
Caledonian Sleeper - which connects Inverness, Fort William, Aberdeen,
Edinburgh and Glasgow to London - as part of the First ScotRail franchise. The
new 15 year sleeper franchise will be awarded next year and is expected to
start in April 2015.

The Group has also been shortlisted to tender for Luas, the light rail network
in Dublin, by the Railway Procurement Agency. The successful operator will
commence running services on the Luas Red and Green lines in September 2014 and
will also be responsible for operating the new Luas Cross City line when it
comes into service.

Commenting, Vernon Barker, FirstGroup's Managing Director, UK Rail said:

"We are delighted to have been shortlisted for these two competitions.

"We are the UK's only operator of sleeper trains and have strong expertise in
Scotland as the current operators of First ScotRail, which is carrying more
passengers than ever before whilst seeing record high customer satisfaction
scores. First ScotRail is also the current Scottish Public Transport Operator
of the Year.

"In light rail, we already operate the Tramlink network, which we run on behalf
of Transport for London and which enjoys the best performance and customer
satisfaction levels of any of TfL's services.

"We look forward to building on these positions and submitting competitive
proposals which meet the needs of customers and taxpayers for both
competitions."

Further information, FirstGroup:
Stuart Butchers, Group Corporate Communications Manager
Tel: [phone]