REG-FirstGroup PLC: Statement re Greyhound property sales

FirstgroupAnnouncement

31/12/2020 07:05

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
corporate.comms@firstgroup.com
+44 (0) 20 7725 3354

Contacts at Brunswick PR:
Andrew Porter / Simone Selzer, Tel: +44 (0) 20 7404 5959

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.



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