Big bus plans from Matthews
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• Former Plaxton chairman David Matthews wants to buy the coach and bus manufacturer and use it as the nucleus of a new force in UK bus bodybuilding.
Matthews, who resigned last November before the group changed its name to Henlys, has switched camps to support the Cowie group's £31m hostile takeover bid for Henlys. He is the largest single Henlys shareholder, with 7% of the shares; other former directors and business associates own a further 12% of the company.
Matthews wants to buy the Plaxton factory at Scarborough and the Plaxton Duple parts and service business from either Henlys or Cowie, depending on who wins the takeover battle, and would then merge it with one of the surviving bus bodybuilders.
Under Matthews's chairmanship, Plaxton tried to reduce its dependence on the UK luxury coach market and launched the Verde city bus body last March. But the Verde has sold exceptionally slowly.
"Plaxton will continue to have difficulty in persuading the PSV operating industry that it is a bus manufacturer," says Matthews. "That is a matter of perception. So the way forward is for it to merge with one of the bus builders, all of whom have less adequate facilities than Plaxton has at Scarborough."
Henlys chief executive Robert Wood (a former general manager of Volvo's UK truck and bus sales company) says the manufacturing operation is not for sale, but Matthews has accused Henlys of running the business into the ground.
Cowie says it will treat Plaxton as its first priority if it takes over. Matthews believes it will retain the group's coach dealership and Roadlease finance operation, but will be prepared to sell the manufacturing side.
Matthews says he has had informal contact with potential merger partners: "It is a small industry and I'm certainly in touch with other businesses."
His plan is to turn over surplus production capacity at Scarborough to bus manufacturing. The idea is only likely to be attractive to possible partners if they want to expand beyond the capacity of their existing plants.
Alexander chief executive Ian Galloway says "There is no agreement with David Matthews or anyone else for any relationship with Plaxton in the future, but Alexander would be interested in talking to the owners of Plaxton, whoever they may be," say Galloway.
Northern Counties joint managing director Ian Murray says that no possibility could be ruled out for the future, but having just bought the business from administrative receivers, it was Out of the question at present.
And East Lanes chairman Dawson Williams has not been approached.