Holding(s) in Company

TR-1: NOTIFICATION OF MAJOR INTEREST IN SHARESi
1. Identity of the issuer or the underlying issuer of existing shares to which voting rights are attached: ii			FIRSTGROUP PLC
2 Reason for the notification (please tick the appropriate box or boxes):
An acquisition or disposal of voting rights				Yes
An acquisition or disposal of qualifying financial instruments which may result in the acquisition of shares already issued to which voting rights are attached				No
An acquisition or disposal of instruments with similar economic effect to qualifying financial instruments				No
An event changing the breakdown of voting rights				No
Other (please specify):				No
3. Full name of person(s) subject to the notification obligation: iii		Ameriprise Financial, Inc. and its group
4. Full name of shareholder(s)  (if different from 3.):iv		HSBC Global Custody Nominee (UK) Limited Nortrust Nominees Ltd State Street Nominees Limited Vidacos Nominees Ltd
5. Date of the transaction and date on which the threshold is crossed or reached: v		17 December 2015
6. Date on which issuer notified:		18 December 2015
7. Threshold(s) that is/are crossed or reached: vi, vii		Above the threshold of 5%

8. Notified details:

A: Voting rights attached to shares viii, ix

Class/type of shares if possible using the ISIN CODE

Situation previous to the triggering transaction

Resulting situation after the triggering transaction

Number of Shares

Number of Voting Rights

Number of shares

Number of voting rights

% of  voting rights x

Direct

Direct xi

Indirect xii

Direct

Indirect

GB0003452173

N/A

N/A

540,295

540,295

63,080,949

0.045%

5.236%

B: Qualifying Financial Instruments

Resulting situation after the triggering transaction

Type of financial instrument

Expiration date xiii

Exercise/ Conversion Period xiv

Number of voting rights that may be acquired if the instrument is exercised/ converted.

% of voting rights

C: Financial Instruments with similar economic effect to Qualifying Financial Instruments xv, xvi

Resulting situation after the triggering transaction

Type of financial instrument

Exercise price

Expiration date xvii

Exercise/ Conversion period xviii

Number of voting rights instrument refers to

% of voting rights xix, xx

Nominal

Delta

Total (A+B+C)

Number of voting rights

Percentage of voting rights

63,621,244

5.281%

9. Chain of controlled undertakings through which the voting rights and/or the financial instruments are effectively held, if applicable: xxi
Threadneedle Asset Management Limited (5.281%) Threadneedle Asset Management Limited is wholly owned by TC Financing Limited, which is itself wholly owned by Threadneedle Asset Management Holdings Limited, which is itself wholly owned by TAM UK Holdings Limited, which is itself wholly owned by Threadneedle Holdings Limited, which is itself wholly owned by Threadneedle Asset Management Holdings SARL, which is itself wholly owned by Ameriprise International Holdings GmbH, which is itself wholly owned by Ameriprise Financial, Inc.
Proxy Voting:
10. Name of the proxy holder:		N/A
11. Number of voting rights proxy holder will cease to hold:		N/A
12. Date on which proxy holder will cease to hold voting rights:		N/A
13. Additional information:	The Shares referred to in section 9 of this form are held in portfolios and funds managed on a discretionary basis by the entities set out in section 9.  Please note that the Shares are held through certain nominee companies.
14. Contact name:	Robert Welch
15. Contact telephone number:	0207 725 5435