FirstGroup shares have come off the rails following reports it may miss out on yet another franchise, this time the prestigious East Coast mainline.
The government is due to announce a winner this week of the business, which runs services from London to Scotland and has successfully been in public hands for five years.
Reports over the weekend suggested Eurostar and Keolis were frontrunners, leaving FirstGroup and a joint bid from Virgin and Stagecoach on the sidelines.
This would be the latest disappointment for FirstGroup, which was passed over for the ScotRail franchise, lost out for the Thameslink Great Northern service as well as the Essex Thameside operations.
FirstGroup shares have fallen 9.6p or 8% to 110.2p, while Stagecoach has slipped 4.3p to 363.8p.
The publicly owned East Coast service has returned more than £1bn to the taxpayer since it took over from National Express, which had run into financial difficulties. Rail unions have called the plan to reprivatise the service as a “national disgrace” and launched a campaign against the proposals.
