Aberdeen-based bus company FirstGroup has made nearly £190m in losses.

The transport firm blamed problems at its US bus firm for the £187m pre-tax losses in the six months to the end of September.

The company is in the process of trying to sell the Greyhound coach business.

Chief executive Matthew Gregory said several interested parties were interested in purchasing Greyhound.

He added: "We've had huge amounts of interest in the process. We expected a lot of people to have a look at it and the best people get to the front.

"As always, these things are never done until they're done."

But transport firm's rail businesses saw revenues increase to £1.32bn for the six months.

From December it will run the West Coast Main Line as part of a joint venture with Italian-owned Trenitalia. The deal is subject to a competition investigation.

It comes after a troubled year for the business with a shareholder attempting earlier this year to remove its chief executive and a number of board members.

Coast Capital failed to overhaul the company's board, but the then chairman Wolfhart Hauser announced he would step down.

First, meanwhile, says more bus passengers paid with contactless and mobile apps rather than cash on its local bus routes for the first time in its history.

Payments were broken down into in 43% cash, with 45% made through non-cash methods, in the latest push towards a cashless society.

The remainder came from ticket sales via third parties.