Most of First London Operations Sold

[Southernsofty]

Most of First London Operations Sold
With the exception of Dagenham, all of First London has been sold, 5 depots to Metroline the remaining 3 to a bank.
First get to pocket @ £80M.

[Southernsofty]

RE: Most of First London Operations Sold

(09/04/2013 13:28)Southernsofty Wrote:  With the exception of Dagenham, all of First London has been sold, 5 depots to Metroline the remaining 3 to a bank.
First get to pocket @ £80M.

More details, (Not a Bank by the way).

"As part of FirstGroup's stated strategy to reposition its UK Bus division to focus on those areas that offer the greatest potential for growth, it has today announced the sale of eight of its London bus depots.


The bus depots at Alperton, Greenford, Hayes, Uxbridge and Willesden Junction, along with 494 vehicles and approximately 1,700 employees, will transfer to Metroline on completion of the sale for a gross consideration of £57.5m. Metroline is an existing London bus operator and wholly-owned subsidiary of Comfort DelGro Corporation Limited, a Singapore-incorporated transportation company.


The bus depots at Atlas Road, Lea Interchange and Westbourne Park, along with approximately 400 vehicles and 1,500 employees, will transfer to Transit Systems Group, an Australian transport operator, on completion of the sale for a gross consideration of £21.3m.


Both disposals are subject to the necessary regulatory approvals including contractual obligations with Transport for London."

[Garsty]

RE: Most of First London Operations Sold
I’m not surprised by this as to get that sort of cash it become clear they had to sell large chunks! I would imagine that London does add unneeded complexity for a business which operates across the UK, mainly in terms of the vehicles (need to be TfL compliant etc and then the cost of cascading), this sale does simplify the operations a lot. With London I suppose there is little room for expansion too, with just constant tendering happening.

[mbonwick]

RE: Most of First London Operations Sold
Looks like Dagenham will be closed then, presumably with Lea Interchange taking on what little work it'll have left after September.

[Southernsofty]

RE: Most of First London Operations Sold

(09/04/2013 15:08)mbonwick Wrote:  Looks like Dagenham will be closed then, presumably with Lea Interchange taking on what little work it'll have left after September.

One report hints that Dagenham may be retained (they run some (School?) contracts from there apparently, including 3 coaches allocated) and be managed from the Essex operation.
Slough & Bracknell are apparently 'headquartered' at Firsts London address in Paddington (presumably the same office for First Great Western Rail ops), this may of course just be a 'registered' H.O.
I wonder if Slough & Bracknell may be placed under the Hants & Dorset operation?

[tbone]

RE: Most of First London Operations Sold
This puts First very near their £100 million target for disposals, could these be the last depots to be sold?

[Southernsofty]

RE: Most of First London Operations Sold

(09/04/2013 20:47)tbone Wrote:  This puts First very near their £100 million target for disposals, could these be the last depots to be sold?

Listened to their 'Phone-conference' today, they have met their £100m disposal target, gave usual 'corporate' guarded answers, basically saying they were continuing with their programme to 're-position the UK bus business', hopefully we will see more disposals/close downs over the next 18 months.

[Polo Mint]

RE: Most of First London Operations Sold
Funny on the Telegraph it shows a First Manchester Scania on the photograph when the article is about the sale of First London.

Selling London probably makes more sense, there are a lot of companies in the London market so First could always buy their way back in in some shape or form like Stagecoach did. If they sold Manchester or West Yorkshire etc then they may never be able to buy it back in the future.

Interesting to see how this changes the fleet. The provinces will not need to suffer with Marshall bodied Darts? Why did TFL insist on those specific Darts? I looked at a fleet list and Daggenham seems to have around 60 modern vehicles, mainly Enviros and a few Geminis. Considering it looks like Daggenham will be shut down could they be re-configured for provincial use?

[mbonwick]

RE: Most of First London Operations Sold
TfL did not insist on Marshall darts, that was First's choice. They got a good price for the Capitals, having decided that they wouldn't buy from Alexander's due to Brian Souter having shares in them.

[Southernsofty]

RE: Most of First London Operations Sold

(10/04/2013 14:36)Polo Mint Wrote:  Funny on the Telegraph it shows a First Manchester Scania on the photograph when the article is about the sale of First London.

Selling London probably makes more sense, there are a lot of companies in the London market so First could always buy their way back in in some shape or form like Stagecoach did. If they sold Manchester or West Yorkshire etc then they may never be able to buy it back in the future.

Interesting to see how this changes the fleet. The provinces will not need to suffer with Marshall bodied Darts? Why did TFL insist on those specific Darts? I looked at a fleet list and Daggenham seems to have around 60 modern vehicles, mainly Enviros and a few Geminis. Considering it looks like Daggenham will be shut down could they be re-configured for provincial use?

I was rather hoping that before the sale completes that First London would be able to cascade a few more of the horrible Marshall Darts to the rest of the evil empire!
Dagenham has a number of elderly Tridents and some middle aged B7TLs, they might get cascaded with a bit of luck!