FirstGroup boss driven out after £327m loss

Rail and bus firm FirstGroup (LSE: FGP.L - news) has ousted chief executive Tim O'Toole after the company swung to a loss for the year.

The firm lost £327m before tax in the year to 31 March 2018 - down from a profit of £153m last year.

It blamed a string of costs totalling £383.6m - the vast majority relating to the Greyhound business - for the slump.

Shares (Berlin: DI6.BE - news) in the Aberdeen-based firm - which runs the Great Western, South Western and TransPennine rail franchises and owns Greyhound buses in the US - dropped by 14% in early trading.

Mr O'Toole said: "The time is right for me to step aside. Today's results clear the way for the new approach sought by our chairman and the board."

Executive chairman Wolfhart Hauser said he was "disappointed" by the results which he said "fell short of our ambitions" and said the company was putting its Greyhound bus business in the States under review.

He thanked Mr O'Toole for his "distinguished leadership" of the business since 2010.