FirstGroup plc (FGP) Q4 2026 Earnings Call

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WEBVTT 00:00:00.993 -- 00:00:07.160 Good morning, everyone, and welcome to First Group's 2026 full-year results presentation. 00:00:07.160 -- 00:00:11.125 In a moment, I will hand over to Ryan to take you through the financial performance for 00:00:11.125 -- 00:00:15.651 the year. I will then provide an update on bus and rail before we take your questions 00:00:15.651 -- 00:00:17.413 at the end. 00:00:17.413 -- 00:00:20.895 Moving on now to slide three. 00:00:21.197 -- 00:00:23.821 I'm pleased to report another strong year for the group. 00:00:23.821 -- 00:00:28.868 The successful execution of our UK-focused growth and diversification strategy has 00:00:28.868 -- 00:00:33.996 driven further earnings momentum and material shareholder returns, reinforcing our 00:00:33.996 -- 00:00:37.281 track record for delivering on our commitments. 00:00:37.281 -- 00:00:41.127 Group adjusted revenue, which does not include the national rail contracts, where we 00:00:41.127 -- 00:00:46.555 take substantially no revenue risk, has grown by 25% to over £1.7 00:00:46.555 -- 00:00:48.318 billion. 00:00:48.318 -- 00:00:53.225 This was largely driven by growth in first bus revenues, aided by the acquisition of 00:00:53.225 -- 00:00:57.428 First Bus London, which completed in February 2025. 00:00:58.942 -- 00:01:04.787 The group adjusted earnings per share for the year has increased by 5% to 20.3 pence, 00:01:04.787 -- 00:01:09.551 with earnings per share growth supported by the repurchase of 22 million shares during 00:01:09.551 -- 00:01:14.596 the year. As a result of our strong performance in cash generation, the Board has 00:01:14.596 -- 00:01:19.680 proposed a full year dividend of 7.2 pence per share, an increase of 11% 00:01:19.680 -- 00:01:24.784 against the prior year. We're also ti...