First Glasgow Volvo B7RLE/Wright Eclipse Urba
First buys Ensignbus….again….
FirstGroup has reached agreement to purchase Purfleet-based Ensignbus from the Newman family in a surprise deal. When completed, it will include the local bus and contract service operation and 55 vehicles along with the resale and refurbishment business, but not the heritage coach and bus fleet.
Conclusion of the purchase is expected “over the next few months.” It will significantly expand First Bus’s current presence in the south Essex market. Ensignbus also runs a B2B segment that includes rail replacement services and private contracts.
In a statement, FirstGroup says that in addition to growing its Essex operation, the acquisition will provide “a number of growth opportunities in the B2B and bus vehicle dealership markets.” It also notes that the Purfleet base of Ensignbus is “high value.”
Adds FirstGroup Chief Executive Officer Graham Sutherland: “The acquisition of Ensigbus, a long-established, high-performing business, will allow us to not only grow our B2B offering, but to enhance our operational footprint in Essex, and we look forward to welcoming Ensignbus employees to the group.
“This is a strategically and financially accretive growth opportunity for us, and one that is fully aligned to our balanced capital allocation policy.”
Commenting on the agreement, Ensignbus Chairman Peter Newman says: “I want to thank all of our employees at Ensignbus for their ongoing hard work to deliver great service for our passengers across all of our communities in Essex. We will be supporting them fully as they move to their new employer.
“We are pleased that First Bus, with its reputation for customer service, innovation and sustainability, will take the Ensignbus business forward as a going concern and we wish it a successful future.
“We will continue to serve our communities and operate our network as usual until the completion date.”
Ensignbus has won multiple awards for its work in developing and improving the bus network in Thurrock, which has done largely with services previously operated by others. The business was founded by Mr Newman in 1972, although he bought and sold his first bus in the early 1960s.
You may question the header to this in that how can First purchase the same business twice. Well, Ensignbus really rose to fame in the bus world by purchasing and reselling a large number of mid-life former London Transport Daimler Fleetline double-deckers to various buyers including such heavyweights as the Scottish Bus Group and the National Bus Company. It subsequently entered the open-top sightseeing market but its growth plan in bus operation began when it started operating and operated tendered services in Greater London.
Success grew in the tendered market and no doubt it was helped by having access to a ready supply of buses to draw on. However the tendered system demanded better standard of buses and Ensignbus’s smart blue and silver livery stood out. It was one of the few independent purchasers of the MCW Metrobus brand new and also some relatively unusual Northern Counties bodied Dennis Dominators, which ultimately ended up at First Glasgow later in their lives.
The growth of the business continued and that made it increasingly attractive to potential suitors. However it was actually CNT Holdings of Hong Kong that purchased the stage carriage operations of Ensignbus in 1991. CNT also had traded as Hong Kong Citybus and so unsurprisingly branded its new operations as Ensign Citybus. Further growth continued and the company was well placed to deal with the collapse of London Buses subsidiary, London Forrest.
However continued growth saw the company rebrand itself as Capital Citybus. It also broke the last link with Ensignbus when it adopted its parent company’s yellow and red livery.
In 1998, the company was sold again, this time to First Group, which rebranded it as First Capital. So this is the first time that First bought Ensignbus effectively. Later, First merged the First Capital business into its other operations in London to form First London. Of course, First then ultimately exited its London operations by 2013, selling these in parts to Go-Ahead London, Metroline and Tower Transit respectively, to raise funds to pay off debts.
However the remainder of EnsignBus carried on with the bus selling, rail replacement and private hires. It then started back in local bus operations around Essex. It did some tendered work too for Transport for London. But it continued with its bus selling operations and its this leftover business that First is buying…again effectively.
Whilst you can see the bus operations being bolted on to First’s existing operations in Essex, the bus selling business is a new venture. First had put a lot of surplus buses through Ensign for sale as well as bought buses from them, mainly Volvo B9TLs and Enviro 400s which it’s used to update some of its subsidiaries. Some of the buses it’s bought back actually originated from the former First London.
So with this purchase, First has become poacher turned gamekeeper. It’ll open up a useful revenue stream for First and also allow First to cherry-pick surplus buses it wants from other companies as well as well as give it its own dealership to sell life expired vehicles through. At present, most buses are either scrapped or some, such as 69062 (SF06GXR) seen here end up in the training fleet with very few going corner First buses through dealerships. That’s a legacy of historic under investment in its fleets.
Of course the only potential fly in the ointment is how other bus companies react to this. Will they be happy punting their old buses through a potential competitor, knowing the money is going to them? I personality feel such fears are overstated. I mean if Stagecoach for example was to sell an old bus it’s because it’s no longer needed. I don’t feel they’ll be too bothered who it ends up with. But we’ll see.
First Glasgow Volvo B7RLE/Wright Eclipse Urba
First buys Ensignbus….again….
FirstGroup has reached agreement to purchase Purfleet-based Ensignbus from the Newman family in a surprise deal. When completed, it will include the local bus and contract service operation and 55 vehicles along with the resale and refurbishment business, but not the heritage coach and bus fleet.
Conclusion of the purchase is expected “over the next few months.” It will significantly expand First Bus’s current presence in the south Essex market. Ensignbus also runs a B2B segment that includes rail replacement services and private contracts.
In a statement, FirstGroup says that in addition to growing its Essex operation, the acquisition will provide “a number of growth opportunities in the B2B and bus vehicle dealership markets.” It also notes that the Purfleet base of Ensignbus is “high value.”
Adds FirstGroup Chief Executive Officer Graham Sutherland: “The acquisition of Ensigbus, a long-established, high-performing business, will allow us to not only grow our B2B offering, but to enhance our operational footprint in Essex, and we look forward to welcoming Ensignbus employees to the group.
“This is a strategically and financially accretive growth opportunity for us, and one that is fully aligned to our balanced capital allocation policy.”
Commenting on the agreement, Ensignbus Chairman Peter Newman says: “I want to thank all of our employees at Ensignbus for their ongoing hard work to deliver great service for our passengers across all of our communities in Essex. We will be supporting them fully as they move to their new employer.
“We are pleased that First Bus, with its reputation for customer service, innovation and sustainability, will take the Ensignbus business forward as a going concern and we wish it a successful future.
“We will continue to serve our communities and operate our network as usual until the completion date.”
Ensignbus has won multiple awards for its work in developing and improving the bus network in Thurrock, which has done largely with services previously operated by others. The business was founded by Mr Newman in 1972, although he bought and sold his first bus in the early 1960s.
You may question the header to this in that how can First purchase the same business twice. Well, Ensignbus really rose to fame in the bus world by purchasing and reselling a large number of mid-life former London Transport Daimler Fleetline double-deckers to various buyers including such heavyweights as the Scottish Bus Group and the National Bus Company. It subsequently entered the open-top sightseeing market but its growth plan in bus operation began when it started operating and operated tendered services in Greater London.
Success grew in the tendered market and no doubt it was helped by having access to a ready supply of buses to draw on. However the tendered system demanded better standard of buses and Ensignbus’s smart blue and silver livery stood out. It was one of the few independent purchasers of the MCW Metrobus brand new and also some relatively unusual Northern Counties bodied Dennis Dominators, which ultimately ended up at First Glasgow later in their lives.
The growth of the business continued and that made it increasingly attractive to potential suitors. However it was actually CNT Holdings of Hong Kong that purchased the stage carriage operations of Ensignbus in 1991. CNT also had traded as Hong Kong Citybus and so unsurprisingly branded its new operations as Ensign Citybus. Further growth continued and the company was well placed to deal with the collapse of London Buses subsidiary, London Forrest.
However continued growth saw the company rebrand itself as Capital Citybus. It also broke the last link with Ensignbus when it adopted its parent company’s yellow and red livery.
In 1998, the company was sold again, this time to First Group, which rebranded it as First Capital. So this is the first time that First bought Ensignbus effectively. Later, First merged the First Capital business into its other operations in London to form First London. Of course, First then ultimately exited its London operations by 2013, selling these in parts to Go-Ahead London, Metroline and Tower Transit respectively, to raise funds to pay off debts.
However the remainder of EnsignBus carried on with the bus selling, rail replacement and private hires. It then started back in local bus operations around Essex. It did some tendered work too for Transport for London. But it continued with its bus selling operations and its this leftover business that First is buying…again effectively.
Whilst you can see the bus operations being bolted on to First’s existing operations in Essex, the bus selling business is a new venture. First had put a lot of surplus buses through Ensign for sale as well as bought buses from them, mainly Volvo B9TLs and Enviro 400s which it’s used to update some of its subsidiaries. Some of the buses it’s bought back actually originated from the former First London.
So with this purchase, First has become poacher turned gamekeeper. It’ll open up a useful revenue stream for First and also allow First to cherry-pick surplus buses it wants from other companies as well as well as give it its own dealership to sell life expired vehicles through. At present, most buses are either scrapped or some, such as 69062 (SF06GXR) seen here end up in the training fleet with very few going corner First buses through dealerships. That’s a legacy of historic under investment in its fleets.
Of course the only potential fly in the ointment is how other bus companies react to this. Will they be happy punting their old buses through a potential competitor, knowing the money is going to them? I personality feel such fears are overstated. I mean if Stagecoach for example was to sell an old bus it’s because it’s no longer needed. I don’t feel they’ll be too bothered who it ends up with. But we’ll see.