Partner Article

First Group unphased by Virgin’s legal challenge

First Group remain unperturbed by Virgin Rail’s legal challenge to the Department for Transport over the awarding of the InterCity West Coast franchise.

In a trading update, the firm said they had every confidence in the rigour of the DfT’s process, and are continuing to prepare for takeover of the contract at the beginning of December.

Overall trading for the Group was in line with expectations, as their UK bus operations are expected to deliver like-for-like passenger revenue growth of 2.5%.

First Group’s Greyhound business in the US experienced slow growth, owing to what it said was the sluggish economic environment.

Tim O’Toole, Chief Executive said: “I am pleased to report overall trading for the first half of the year is in line with our expectations. With a fundamentally strong and diverse portfolio of operations we are focused on driving a greater performance and delivering improved growth and returns. While there is significant work to do we are satisfied with the progress of the actions we have taken, though we remain mindful of the uncertain economic backdrop.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .