Coach industry consolidation: Is McGill’s the latest player in town?

The coach industry consolidation story has continued with a new buyer of smaller, family-owned operators emerging in McGill’s Group through its opening such purchase of Prentice Westwood.

McGill’s has been on an expansion journey in the bus field for some time, taking operations from each of First Bus and National Express in addition to prior smaller deals. It has been busy with organic expansion of its existing coach operation in the scheduled service and tourism-based segments and wasted no time after the collapse of Fishers Tours in May

Owners James and Sandy Easdale have such financial might that they rank on the Sunday Times Rich List. CEO Tony Williamson, meanwhile, notes how the purchase of Prentice Westwood in early July will play a significant role in supporting McGill’s continued coach growth in central Scotland and beyond.

The latter word could be key. Earlier this year McGill’s – the UK’s largest independent bus operator – noted how more expansion outside its Scottish Central Belt heartland is on the agenda and that the group’s coaching arm was growing quickly, albeit constrained by the availability of new vehicles.

McGill’s thus joins an existing list of other potential coach operator suitors that includes The Coach Travel Group (CTG), First Bus, and Go-Ahead.

CTG already has around 550 vehicles within its subsidiary business, and CEO Tom Stables outlines in an interview to be published in the July print issue of routeone how steps to grow that further are in hand.

Notably, he does not rule out the vehicle total doubling or even tripling in the medium-term. Much else factors into CTG’s plans, but in a move that would perhaps be unprecedented in the UK industry, Mr Stables does not rule out founding ‘brownfield’ coach businesses from scratch where the conditions are right.

Some suggestions from within the sector have been that the post-2020 peak in rates may have plateaued. For bus groups, it was a combination of rates and a diversification wind caused by bus franchising that drove much coach operator acquisition activity. CTG is not impacted by the latter, although it has a strong eye on contracted income.

Nevertheless, the Prentice Westwood sale and comments made both on- and off-the-record by some on the purchasing side of the various deals over the past couple of years give a good idea that consolidation in the coach industry has a way still to run. Another player in that market indicates that opportunity to sell will remain for some time yet.