FIRSTGROUP PLC
NEW SUSTAINABILITY-LINKED BANK FACILITY
AND REPAYMENT OF LEGACY DEBT
FirstGroup plc (‘FirstGroup’ or ‘the Group’) announces that it
has signed a new £300m sustainability-linked Revolving Credit
Facility (‘RCF’) with a group of its relationship banks. The RCF
has an initial maturity of four years, with the option to extend by
a further year subject to bank consent. The covenants have been
structured to reflect the future shape of the Group and to give
substantial headroom against them.
The initial interest rate will be the Bank of England's Sterling Overnight Index Average
(‘SONIA’) interest rate plus 1%, and will thereafter vary according
to two measures. The first of these is the Group’s leverage; and
the second is its performance against two sustainability KPIs,
being the level of Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions per £m of revenue
from its First Bus and First Rail operations, and the relative
growth of its zero-emission bus fleet in the UK.
The new RCF replaces all the Group’s former committed syndicated
and bilateral banking facilities, which have recently been repaid
and cancelled. The Group has recently also repaid the UK
Government's Covid Corporate Financing Facility (‘CCFF’) commercial
paper as well as all of its Private Placement debt, and will
shortly give notice to the holders of its £325m 5.25% bonds due
November 2022 that it will exercise
its right to repay them early. The Group’s £200m 6.875% bonds due
September 2024 are not affected and
remain outstanding.
As previously outlined, the Group expects to have pro forma
adjusted pre IFRS16 net debt of c.£100m following all of the funds
flows related to the First Student and First Transit transaction
and the use of proceeds as set out in the circular and the
announcement of completing the sale.
Commenting on the above, Ryan Mangold, FirstGroup CFO, said:
"The new sustainability-linked RCF and repayment of our CCFF
commercial paper, 2022 bonds, and private placement notes completes
the reorganisation of our debt arrangements following the recent
sale of our North American contract businesses. This has been an
important step that complements the rationalisation of the Group
and ensures that our debt arrangements are fit-for-purpose for our
future development. We are pleased with the support shown by our
relationship banks for our new facility, which has a clear link to
our decarbonisation plans, including our commitment to operating a
zero emission First Bus fleet by 2035."
Contacts at
FirstGroup:
Faisal Tabbah, Head of Investor Relations
Stuart Butchers, Group Head of Communications
corporate.comms@firstgroup.com
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7725 3354 |
Contacts at
Brunswick PR:
Andrew Porter / Simone Selzer
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7404 5959 |
Notes
Legal Entity Identifier (LEI): 549300DEJZCPWA4HKM93.
Classification as per DTR 6 Annex 1R: 3.1.
FirstGroup plc (LSE: FGP.L) is a leading private sector provider
of public transport services. With £4.3 billion in revenue and
around 30,000 employees, our UK divisions transported nearly
700,000 passengers a day in the 52 weeks to 27 March 2021. First Bus is the second largest
regional bus operator in the UK, serving two-thirds of the UK’s 15
largest conurbations with a fleet of c.5,000 buses. First Rail is
the UK’s largest rail operator, with many years of experience
running long-distance, commuter, regional and sleeper rail
services. We operate a fleet of c.3,750 rail vehicles on four
contracted operations (Avanti, GWR, SWR, TPE) and two open access
routes (Hull Trains and a new East Coast service launching later in
2021). We create solutions that reduce complexity, making travel
smoother and life easier. Our businesses are at the heart of our
communities and the essential services we provide are critical to
delivering wider economic, social and environmental goals. We are
formally committed to operating a zero-emission First Bus fleet by
2035 and to cease purchasing further diesel buses after 2022; and
First Rail will help support the UK Government’s goal to remove all
diesel-only trains from service by 2040. Visit our website at
www.firstgroupplc.com and follow us @firstgroupplc on Twitter.