First Manchester

[SandyDrew]

RE: First Manchester
Not sure if everyone has seen the statement about the acquisition of Finglands bus services... http://www.firstgroup.com/ukbus/greater_...311&conf=0

Apologies if double posted...

Thursday 01 August 2013

Firstgroup PLC is pleased to announce that First Manchester Limited, a wholly owned indirect subsidiary of FirstGroup, has agreed to acquire the Manchester bus business from Finglands Coachways Limited for £50,000.

The acquisition of Finglands, which operates a number of commercial bus services and school contracts to the South and East of Manchester, is subject to Office of Fair Trading (OFT) clearance and, if approved, is expected to be completed during autumn this year.

The Finglands business saw unaudited revenues of £3.8m for the year ending December 2012.

The acquisition includes the lease of the existing depot in Wilmslow Road, Rusholme, existing service registrations and the transfer of approximately 100 staff. The fleet of 41 vehicles would be excluded from the sale although some may be used in the short-term to meet current service commitments. The sale excludes Finglands coach business.

The acquisition allows First Manchester to expand its successful bus operations in the Greater Manchester region and to grow the number of passengers on its buses.

First Manchester currently operates around 700 buses and employs 2000 staff. In the past 12 months First has lowered a number of its fares in the Greater Manchester region by around 30% and saw passenger volume growth of around 8% in the three months between April and June.

The Finglands operations would become part of First Manchester, which is led by Regional Managing Director Dave Alexander.

Dave Alexander, Regional Managing Director for First in the North of England, said: "This acquisition demonstrates our commitment to Greater Manchester and represents an excellent opportunity to further grow bus passenger volumes. It reflects our strategy of focusing on those areas that offer the greatest potential for growth and will allow us to improve bus networks for the communities we serve.

"We are looking forward, subject to OFT clearance, to welcoming our new colleagues to FirstGroup."