LONDON: Britain’s FirstGroup plans to sell US coach service Greyhound and spin-off its First Bus operations in an attempt to head off shareholder pressure, lifting its share price by 13 per cent.
FirstGroup, which also runs tens of thousands of yellow school buses in the United States, has blamed competition from low cost airlines for the poor performance of Greyhound, which it has owned since 2007.
Greyhound had launched a review of Greyhound, the only operator of scheduled intercity coaches in North America which carries around 17 million passengers a year, while withdrawing from Western Canada and selling a facility in Chicago.
“Greyhound has limited synergies with our other, predominantly contract-based, North American businesses and we believe that value for shareholders can best be delivered by seeking new owners,” FirstGroup said in a statement. — Reuters
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