UK rail company FirstGroup makes slow comeback after losing contract to Virgin

Patricia Laya

April 2nd, 2013 at 11:32 AM EDT

Photo Credit: FirstGroup 165127 stands at Reading having just arrived on from Basingstoke, England. Flickr / Joshua Brown

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Losing the contract in a convoluted assessment process was a major loss for the UK operator, but a thriving bus division and multiple rail franchises have kept the company’s engine running.

FirstGroup Plc, the U.K.’s largest rail operator, jumped the most in almost 11 months after Bank of America Merrill Lynch analysts said that contract extensions and divestments may give the shares a 20 percent boost. The stock rose as much as 8.1 percent, the biggest intraday advance since May 23, and was up 6.9 percent at 215 pence at 12:07 p.m. for the second-biggest gain among the 602 companies on FTSE All-Share Index. Almost 3 million shares had traded, or 37 percent more than the daily average for the Aberdeen, Scotland-ba

UK rail company FirstGroup makes slow comeback after losing contract to Virgin

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