Industry & Services >> CEO Interviews >> February 8, 1999
MOIR LOCKHEAD, OBE, I Eng MIRTE MCIT is Deputy Chairman and Chief
Executive of First Group plc. Born in Durham, married with three sons
and one daughter. He is a qualified engineer who served his
apprenticeship with the National Bus Company. After a period as a
Management Trainee with the Tarmac Group he followed an engineering
management career in Hartlepool and Tyne & Wear. He moved to Scotland in
1979 where he was responsible for engineering at Strathclyde bus and
underground. Having joined Grampian Transport in 1985 as General Manager
he led a successful employee/management buy-out of the company in
January 1989 and was appointed Executive Chairman. On 5th May 1994 GRT
Bus Group PLC (GRT) was successfully listed on the London Stock
Exchange. Just over a year later on 16th June 1995, GRT merged with the
Badgerline Group creating a new company FirstBus plc (re-named
FirstGroup plc in December 1997) and Moir Lockhead was appointed Deputy
Chairman and Group Chief Executive. FirstGroup has 28 companies
operating from Aberdeen to Cornwall. Market share is around 25% making
FirstGroup the largest bus operator in the UK. As well as being the
largest bus operator in the UK, FirstGroup owns 51% of Bristol
International Airport, and runs three rail franchises ' Great Eastern
Railway, Great Western Railway and North Western Trains. The Group
recently announced a strategic alliance with New World Technologies to
run bus services in Hong Kong. The franchise is for a period of five
years commencing on 1 September 1998 and the joint venture company, New
World First, will operate 700 buses over 88 bus routes mainly on Hong
Kong Island. FirstGroup has a turnover of L1.2 billion, a work force of
28,000 and operates around 10,000 vehicles. In 1993 the Junior Chamber
of Commerce awarded Moir Lockhead 'Grampian Industrialist of the Year'
and in the same year he joined the Board of Grampian Enterprise Limited.
He became Chairman of Grampian Enterprise in December 1998. In the
Queen's Birthday Honours in 1996 he was awarded the OBE. He is also Non-
Executive Chairman of ASCo, the leading logistics service company in the
North Sea. His hobbies include amateur farming and breeding highland
cattle. Profile
principal activities.
Mr. Lockhead: We're an integrated public transport group. At the moment
50% of our turnover comes
