It was one of those skirmishes where both sides could claim victory. After some testy verbal exchanges with its largest shareholder in the run-up to a showdown vote last month, First Group emerged with its boardroom almost entirely intact and the majority of its investors onside.
At the same time, Coast Capital, the New York-based hedge fund that had convened the meeting for the vote, garnered enough support among other disillusioned shareholders to ensure the departure of the FTSE 250 transport group’s chairman, Wolfhart Hauser, 69.
Yet the voting run-in over the board’s composition at First Group was the precursor to what looks like a more gritty pathway ahead for the bus and rail operator, one that may contain a few more bumps and potholes.