First South West Expands

An official announcement today:

FirstGroup plc (‘FirstGroup’) is pleased to announce that its wholly-owned subsidiary, First South West Limited, has acquired the remaining 50% shareholding in its Somerset Passenger Solutions Ltd (‘SPS’) joint venture. The shares have been acquired from JJP Holdings (South West) Limited (‘JJPH’), giving FirstGroup control over the business going forward. The consideration, being funded from FirstGroup’s existing cash resources, is £8.4m, paid on completion, with potential deferred consideration of up to £1.6m if certain conditions are met.

SPS, which started in 2016 as a joint venture with 50/50 ownership between First South West Limited, and Somerset-based JJPH, operates the contract to provide transport for workers employed at the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station near Bridgwater.

The company has grown in accordance with the increasing amount of work on site and now employs around 450 people running a 156 vehicle-strong operation, delivering shuttle services seven days a week to and from Hinkley Point C. The business has annual revenues of approximately £37.0m. The purchase of the remaining 50% of SPS shares forms part of the First Bus strategy to develop and grow its share of the business-to-business services market.

The acquisition constitutes a Class 2 transaction pursuant to the UK Listing Rules. For the purposes of the LR 10.4.1 R (Notification of class 2 transactions), as at 31 December 2020, the gross assets of SPS were £9.62m, and the profits attributable to it were £3.95m

This is clearly good news for FSW!

Meanwhile in other news they have given an update on two interesting vehicles

Work is well underway on 20558 at Qualiti Conversions pic.twitter.com/RJ38qtqV3v

— Marc Huws (@MarcMorganHuws) October 4, 2021

Work is also continuing on our Truronian open top. Wedding bookings being taken!!! pic.twitter.com/2nz0jwuRa9

— Marc Huws (@MarcMorganHuws) October 4, 2021