FIRSTGROUP ACCOUNTS
Transport consultant slams “materially misleading” article in The Times about FirstGroup’s accounting practices
Leading public transport consultancy TAS has launched an attack on The Times newspaper for an article it printed on 18 June concerning FirstGroup’s accounting practices, in which Chris Cheek, one of its directors, was quoted.
“The article is materially misleading in a number of respects,” said Cheek. “Firstly, the report in The Times implies that FirstGroup’s practice of quoting certain railway bidding costs as exceptional is misleading – whereas in fact their practice in both their 2006 and 2007 annual reports has been to quote, up front, the sums of money involved. This is actually more transparent than any other train operator in the UK.”
“Whilst it is true that our Rail Industry Monitor and Bus Industry Monitor reports have not treated these items as exceptional in our analysis, this is for two reasons: firstly, because we regard the costs as a normal part of being in the UK rail market; and secondly, because we are trying to make comparisons between operators on a comparable basis: since most if not all other transport operators do not quote their bid costs separately, we are obliged to disregard FirstGroup’s. The second point was explained in some detail to the representative of The Times, but not referred to in the article.”
“The point that the article misses completely is that all the figures are set out quite clearly in the group’s annual report, and therefore enable shareholders, analysts and other interested parties to make up their own minds about the results. That is what transparent accounting is about, and FirstGroup should be praised, not blamed, for being so open about their results.”
A letter of complaint has been sent to the Editor of the paper concerning this matter.
ENDS
For further information, contact Chris Cheek on 01729 840756