Bosses buyout at NC
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• Northern Counties has been bought for £1.9m by a management-led employee buyout team which includes a finance director who was poached from NC's administrator.
The takeover of the UK's second largest double-deck bodybuilder was completed 15 months after the Wigan-based company called in accountants Grant Thornton.
It was led by co-managing directors Ian Murray (sales), Nick Parsons (production) and finance director Lindsay Khan who was one of the administrators at Grant Thornton.
He helped turn round the operation by reducing the staff by nearly half to 240 and cutting overheads.
Another newcomer to NC, executive chairman Trevor Egan, was formerly the chief executive of abrasives firm Carborundum which was bought out in 1983 and in 1990 made more than £4m.
The four directors are to take 76% of the shares; the remaining 24% will go to NC's employees, whose jobs have been saved by a healthy order book of around 115 buses which will keep them in work until the new year. The deal was funded by £515.000 from the UK arm of the Bank of Boston and £600,000 from Lloyds Bank.
Bank of Boston UK director Robin Higham, who co-ordinated the deal, said he was impressed that the company had a substantial order book, despite being in administration.
Murray says: "Our industry has been looking very closely at our situation over the past 15 months and as a result of the buyout customer confidence will improve enormously."
He says Northern Counties' first aim is to make money — it is currently breaking even and last made a profit in 1988. Murray expects the company will diversify into building more high-capacity single-deckers which will encourage export orders, alongside its traditional double-deck business.
About 80% of its order book is for double-deckers, including 30 Palatine bodies on Leyland Olympian chassis for Badgerline subsidiary Cityline (Bristol Omnibus Company).