A revving North American business has helped transport company FirstGroup (FGP) race up the stock market on the morning of its trading update this week.
Each of its US bus businesses - First Student, First Transit and Greyhound - fired on all cylinders during the three months to 31 December, and earnings from this part of the company have the added bonus of translating well into the weaker pound.
In the UK, the story is more mixed, but there's room for optimism. Christmas trading was so-so for First Bus, but like-for-like revenue in the period only dropped 0.6 per cent - a smaller amount than in the first half. The focus remains on costs to support margins. Rail like-for-like passenger revenue rose 1.1 per cent in spite of major infrastructure works on its lines.
