Passenger News
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Duple for Hestair
DUPLE was heading into new hands this week as its biggest British rival, Plaxtons, reported an improvement in its business this year, writes NOEL MILLIER.
Hestair chairman David Hargreaves told CM on Monday that he confidently expects his group will be in control of Duple, probably by the weekend.
Duple International chairman Gordon Hay and the Duple board have recommended shareholders to accept the allshare bid from Hestair — parent company of Hestair Dennis — saying it is in the best interests of both Duple and its shareholders for the business to be merged with the larger and currently profitable Hestair group.
An extraordinary general meeting of Hestair shareholders has sanctioned the necessary transfer of shares for the deal.
It would give Duple a better chance of meeting the growing demand for integral coaches, by pooling the Dennis and Duple resources, and would help Dennis by giving it access to Duple for bodybuilding capacity and to Duple Metsec for complete bus kits for export markets. A measure of Duple's current difficulties is the increase in its losses for the six months to February 28 last. Compared with the same period last year, this rose from £424,000 to £833,000.
In contrast, Plaxtons of Scarborough is reporting increased profits for the six months to the beginning of April. In its bus and coach bodybuilding division production volumes have increased and the trend towards higher specification coaches is reflected in an increase in turnover for the period from £7.5m to nearly £10.2m for the same period this year.
Group profit before taxation has increased from £351,000 to £479,000.
The luxury coach and bus bodying division increased its profit from £17,000 to £222,000 during the 26 weeks. Profitability was adversely affected to an extent by "learning curve" costs associated with the introduction of the Paramount body range.
Plaxton's cab conversions and small passenger vehicles division (Reeve Burgess) was the only one to record a loss during the period, although measures taken over the last 18 months to improve volumes and efficiency are expected to result in this division making a profit over the year as a whole.
The group is expecting further improvements in the second half of the year when benefits from better coach delivery volumes and improved profit margins achieved by the absorbtion of the Paramount development costs should be reflected.
Plaxtons is also preparing to consolidate coachbuilding activities at its Eastfield site where an engineering shop to faciliate integral coach production is planned.