Media Coverage - First Group makes second disposal in two weeks

According to Financial Times (2012) In a period of 2 weeks First Group has made a second disposal, this time selling the 130 - vehicle bus depot in north east London to their smaller competitor Go-Ahead Group for a £14m deal. This money will go towards shoring up the £100m-£115m in cash First Group is aiming to produce in the year to March 31^st. A great opportunity for the Go-Ahead group to expand their operating margins in the North-east area, adding to their already covered London and South-east operations. This late deals are a good sign for the company in the effort to reduce its net debt estimated in £2bn that was build up through a series of acquisitions including US group Laidlaw International, operator of Greyhound buses. Although it seems as a good strategy to reduce their debt it was argued by Paul Hickman at Peel Hunt that there were great investor concerns since in each of the past 3 years the company failed to meet their initial expectations, possibly affecting the markets confidence in future forecasts, cited by Financial Times (2012).

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Website·      

• Financial Times (2012) “First Group makes second disposal in two weeks” [online] Available at: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f3c2d93c-71c0-11e1-8497-00144feab49a.html#axzz1pxjmipJ3 (Accessed 23/03/2012). 

Share Price Analysis week 19/03/2012 - 23/03/2012

First Group Company plc opened with a negative share price from the previous week (19/03/2012) but its share price increased 4.10 points, closing Monday with a positive share price (297p). At the moment it is the highest figure on March, but at the end of this the week the share price drooped down approximately 6.19 point on the London Stock Exchange closing the week on 23rd March 2012 with a low share price 291.31p, cited by First Group Company (2012).

Source: share price 2012

To continue analyzing the performance of the First Group Company during the past year, a small comparison to the share price for the day March 23, 2011 (332.1 p) and 2012 (291.3 p), was performed, showing a large decrease in the share price, the shares rose -12.29% over the year, cited by First Group Company (2012). 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

WEBSITE

• First Group Company (2012), “Share Price Chart”, [online] Available at: http://www.firstgroup.com/corporate/investors/sharepricegraph.php Accessed     (23rd March 2012). 

    

•   Share Price (2012), " First Group Share Price (FGP) Buy FGP Shares" [online] Available at:http://shareprices.com/lse/fgp. Accessed ( 23rd March 2012).

Share Price and FTSE 100 Index First Group plc 2011 Analysis

According to First Group Company (2012) on FTSE 100 index, company share started 2011 at a very good share price of 412.6p and the price of the share remained above 400p until the end of February 2011 but in the March start share price was dropped down to 333.4p due to decrease in the trading activity in FTSE 100 index. Until the July 2011, share price kept on fluctuating around 362.2p but as the September 2011 started company faced a drastically reduced in the share price and it was reduced to around 320.8p on FTSE 100 index, This was a very alarming situation for the company however, the company improved their performance and image in the FTSE 100 index and the share price was again raised to 340p in the month of November 2011. During the period of November to December 2011, share price kept on fluctuating between the price of 340p and 360p and finally ended the year 2011 on the share price of 340p as compare to the share price of 412.6p in the FTSE index, cited by First Group Company (2012).  

  

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

WEBSITE

• First Group Company (2012), “Share Price Chart”, [online] Available at: http://www.firstgroup.com/corporate/investors/sharepricegraph.php  Accessed ( 17th March 2012).    

Share Price

According to First Group Company (2012) First Group Company share price started at a very good share price of 290p and closed the day with 289.1p. It can be seen that the share price dropped down, due to the current economic down turn or for the public cuts. First Group plc performance during this week in the stock price continues to decline, by 6.1 points, so it was observed on Friday March 9, first group plc closed its stock price at 283.90

 Below it presented the share price of the week from 5 to 9 March 2012.

To analyse more thoroughly the performance of the company, a small comparison to the share price for the day March 9, 2011 (371.3 p) and 2012 (283.9 p), was performed, showing a large decrease in the share price, the shares rose -23.54% over the year, cited by First Group Company (2012), which indicates loss of confidence to buyers of the shares. 

Source: Share Price (2012)

BIBLIOGRAPHY

WEBSITE

• First Group Company (2012), “Share Price Chart”, [online] Available at: http://www.firstgroup.com/corporate/investors/sharepricegraph.php  Accessed ( 9th March 2012).     
• Share Price (2012), " First Group Share Price (FGP) Buy FGP Shares" [online] Available at:http://shareprices.com/lse/fgp. Accessed ( 9th March 2012).

Share Price and FTSE 100 Index First Group plc

Share price is the price of the company share in the market. Price of the share can be more then or less then the face value of the share depending on the performance of the share. High share price reflects good performance and low price reflects bad performance of the organisation, cited by Rodney (2007). Now,  an example of the performance of  First Group company in the year 2010 in the share price is as follows.  

By analyzing the share price of first Group Company on the FTSE 100 index from the period of 1^st January 2010 to 31^st December 2011 it is observed that starting with January 2010 the share price of company on the FTSE 100 index was 422.5p and then by the end of January 2010 it was reduced up to 390p in the market and then gradually the share price started to the increase and during the month of April 2010 it was almost touching 440p on FTSE 100 index. This increased in proved to be of temporary nature as during the month of May 2010 the share price was dropped down to 375p in FTSE 100 index, cited by First Group Company (2012).

The company continued to perform well and more activity held in shares of the company during the period of May 2010 and December 2010. The share price of the company keeps on fluctuating during this time period. However, the company share closed the year 2010 on the positive note with the share price almost crossing 450p in the FTSE 100 index. 

Source: First Group Company (2012). 

Later on, it will give the performance of the company for the year 2011 and part of 2012.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Book

• Rodney,  H. (2007), “Shares Made Simple: A Beginner's Guide to the Stock Market”, 1^st   Edition, Harriman House

Website

• First Group Company (2012), “Latest News”, [online] Available at: http://www.firstgroup.com/corporate/latest_news/   . Accessed ( March 2nd 2012).