FirstGroup stakes its claim

FTSE 250 Index- listed FirstGroup carried more than 2.5billion people a year on bus and train operations in the UK and North America.

The Aberdeen- based company has annual revenue of more than £6.9billion and around 120,000 employees.

Its current chief executive, Tim O’Toole, took the helm in November 2010 after Sir Moir Lockhead left the business he had built up after leading an employee and management buyout of Grampian Buses in 1989.

At the end of 2007, FirstGroup was elevated to membership of the bluechip FTSE 100 index; the first Aberdeen company to join the ranks of the biggest listed businesses in Britain. It is no longer in the top flight, however, having been overtaken by companies worth more.

The firm is one of the largest UK bus operators, with a fleet of 7,400vehicles transporting about 2.3million passengers a day.

It operates around a fifth of local bus services across Britain, including the network in its home city.

FirstGroup currently operates four UK rail franchises; First Capital Connect, First Great Western, First ScotRail and First TransPennine Express, as well as one open access operator – Hull Trains – and trams.

Its rail operations carry more than 310million pas- sengers a year and employee 13,500 people.

The firm is the largest provider of student transportation in North America, with a fleet of about 50,000 school buses – more than twice the size of the next largest competitor.

It carries some 6million students per school day across the US and Canada on around 1,300 contracts in nearly 600 locations.

The company acquired US firm Laidlaw and its iconic Greyhound coaches for £1.9billion in 2007.