REG-FirstGroup PLC: Sustainability-Linked Bank Facility & Repayment Of Debt

FirstgroupAnnouncement

31/08/2021 07:35

FIRSTGROUP PLC
NEW SUSTAINABILITY-LINKED BANK FACILITY
AND REPAYMENT OF LEGACY DEBT

FirstGroup plc (‘FirstGroup’ or ‘the Group’) announces that it has
signed a new £300m sustainability-linked Revolving Credit Facility
(‘RCF’) with a group of its relationship banks. The RCF has an initial
maturity of four years, with the option to extend by a further year subject to
bank consent. The covenants have been structured to reflect the future shape
of the Group and to give substantial headroom against them.

The initial interest rate will be the Bank of England's Sterling Overnight
Index Average (‘SONIA’) interest rate plus 1%, and will thereafter vary
according to two measures. The first of these is the Group’s leverage; and
the second is its performance against two sustainability KPIs, being the level
of Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions per £m of revenue from its First Bus and First
Rail operations, and the relative growth of its zero-emission bus fleet in the
UK.

The new RCF replaces all the Group’s former committed syndicated and
bilateral banking facilities, which have recently been repaid and cancelled.
The Group has recently also repaid the UK Government's Covid Corporate
Financing Facility (‘CCFF’) commercial paper as well as all of its Private
Placement debt, and will shortly give notice to the holders of its £325m
5.25% bonds due November 2022 that it will exercise its right to repay them
early. The Group’s £200m 6.875% bonds due September 2024 are not affected
and remain outstanding.

As previously outlined, the Group expects to have pro forma adjusted pre
IFRS16 net debt of c.£100m following all of the funds flows related to the
First Student and First Transit transaction and the use of proceeds as set out
in the circular and the announcement of completing the sale.

Commenting on the above, Ryan Mangold, FirstGroup CFO, said:

"The new sustainability-linked RCF and repayment of our CCFF commercial paper,
2022 bonds, and private placement notes completes the reorganisation of our
debt arrangements following the recent sale of our North American contract
businesses. This has been an important step that complements the
rationalisation of the Group and ensures that our debt arrangements are
fit-for-purpose for our future development. We are pleased with the support
shown by our relationship banks for our new facility, which has a clear link
to our decarbonisation plans, including our commitment to operating a zero
emission First Bus fleet by 2035."

 Contacts at FirstGroup: Faisal Tabbah, Head of Investor Relations Stuart Butchers, Group Head of Communications corporate.comms@firstgroup.com Tel: +44 (0) 20 7725 3354  Contacts at Brunswick PR: Andrew Porter / Simone Selzer Tel: +44 (0) 20 7404 5959  

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 £4.3 billion in revenue and around 30,000 employees,
our UK divisions transported nearly 700,000 passengers a day in the 52 weeks
to 27 March 2021. 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.5,000 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.3,750 rail vehicles on four contracted
operations (Avanti, GWR, SWR, TPE) and two open access routes (Hull Trains and
a new East Coast service launching later in 2021). 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
cease purchasing further 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. Visit our website at www.firstgroupplc.com and follow us
@firstgroupplc on Twitter.



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