Transport giant FirstGroup loses fifth of market value after British govt u-turn

Transport giant FirstGroup lost more than a fifth of its stock market value today after an embarrassing British government u-turn dealt a blow to its hopes of running the West Coast franchise.

The FTSE 250-listed company saw shares plunge 21% or 50.6p to 193.4p, wiping more than £240m off its value, following news the British government was pulling its offer due to significant technical flaws in the handling of the bid process.