NBC managers offered buy-out options
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NATIONAL Bus Company managers have been invited to say whether they would like to buy their companies and several have already reacted positively to the prospect.
NBC chairman Robert Brook has cold managers of the 60 subsidiary companies that privatisation will be achieved through a programme eared to the states of readiness of individual companies.
For those companies that elect to go immediately, the time scale will be just as soon as they and NBC can make
said Brook.
Sonic companies could be in different ownership before deregulation day next October.
NBC managers opting to organise buy-outs of their companies will be expected to provide opportunities for their staff to be involved in acquiring an interest in the unit for which they work.
Brook said that the group had suffered too long from uncertainty. "The important thing is for us to get going along the privatisation road, but the programme must be an orderly one," he added.
Several managers have already notified Brook of their intention to make bids but their names are not being made public until they consult their workforces.
Over the past two years, some companies have moved away from the NBC corporate image and established strong autonomous local images, in sonic cases by aggressively marketing and expanding their services with new brand names.
Last year only three NBC bus operating companies, National Welsh, South Wales Transport, and Western National lost money, and many, including London Country, contributed more than LI million in profit.