THE spat between FirstGroup and the activist seeking a boardroom purge at the transport giant has taken a fresh twist after a sector veteran the dissident has proposed as a director was deemed ineligible.
Coast Capital was seeking the approval of shareholders in Aberdeen-based FirstGroup to place seven of its own nominees on the board and to remove six of the 11 existing directors.
It has claimed the existing leadership team has a track record of value destruction and under-performance.
Coast’s nominees include David Martin, a former chief executive of transport firm Arriva.
Shareholders will vote on Coast’s proposals at a general meeting scheduled for June 25.
However, FirstGroup said it had not received the required confirmation from Mr Martin of his willingness to be appointed as a director of the company.
“Accordingly, that Coast Nominee, Mr Martin, is not eligible to be appointed as a director of the Company at the General Meeting,” it said.
A spokesman for Coast said the general meeting resolution proposing Mr Martin’s appointment had been withdrawn.
He claimed: “David remains of the view that he would be delighted to join a refreshed FirstGroup board under a new chairman and one that has a robust and credible turnaround strategy.”
After Coast stepped up criticism of the current management regime on Tuesday, a spokesman for FirstGroup said its directors were delivering on the firm’s growth strategy at pace and had the skills and backgrounds to address the future needs of transport.
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