Plaxtons profits up
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• Plaxtons, the Scarboroughbased coachbuilder, doubled its profits in the year to September 1987. On a turnover up from £36.9 million to £99.88 million the company made a healthy 21.49 million in pre-tax profits.
Plaxtons attributes most of this growth to the Kirkby Group, which it acquired last year. Kirkby's coach and car distribution business is doing well, says chairman John Pepper, "particularly in contract hire and leasing".
The company says that the Kirkby acquisition is still in its
honeymoon phase, and that when Plaxton's traditional bodybuilding activities have been properly integrated with Kirkby, further growth can be expected. The firm is turning temporary jobs at its factories into full-time posts as a testament to its optimism.
Pepper adds: "The order book for Reeve Burgess — Plaxtons division making miniand midi-buses, special vehicles and van conversions, is good and prospects are reasonable despite a poor performance last year resulting in management changes." This contrasts strongly with Plaxton's comments on subsidiary Wilfred Overton, which it describes as being "too reliant on the continuing strong demand for minibuses and coaches. A review is in progress with a view to broadening its product range." The group obviously feels that the current mini-bus boom may be short-lived.