Shares in FirstGroup and Stagecoach Group surged today after the two Scottish transport giants reported progress towards getting their buses back on the road.
Aberdeen-based FirstGroup – up around 4.6% at 59.4p – welcomed another tranche of UK Government support for public transport south of the border, and said talks were taking place with the Scottish and Welsh governments to secure support for extra bus service capacity whenever Covid-19 travel restrictions ease.
Perth-based Stagecoach saw its shares soar nearly 9% to 72.75p after it said it planned to increase its regional bus vehicle mileage closer to pre-pandemic levels “in the near future”.
In another positive day for the FTSE 100 Index, London’s blue-chip market rose 74.54 points, or 1.2%, to 6,218.79 in a third consecutive session of gains.
Second tier firm Cineworld Group stormed ahead nearly 21.5% to 93.84p after it said it hoped to reopen all of its cinemas in July. By contrast, travel giant Tui fell nearly 2% to 520.6p after it extended the suspension of holidays for UK customers until at least the end of June due to coronavirus travel restrictions.
Brent crude oil was up more than 2% at $36.26 per barrel, as of 5.30pm.