Henlys Group

Henlys Group PLC was a car dealer that became a major player in the bus and coach business in both North America and England.

History

Henlys started life as a Jaguar and Rover dealer. Its former premises gave their name to Henly's Corner, the junction of the North Circular Road, A1 and Finchley Road in Hampstead Garden Suburb.

In 1985 Henlys was bought by the Hawley Group, owners of Coleman Milne, makers of funeral hearses. Hawley Group formed a Motoring Division comprising Henlys and Coleman Milne. In 1989, Henlys and Coleman Milne were sold to the Plaxton Group, the bus and coach manufacturer based in Scarborough, Yorkshire. In May 1992, the Plaxton Group PLC was renamed as Henlys Group PLC.

Coleman Milne was sold to a management buy-out in 1992. Henlys pursued a strategy of diversification and expansion through the 1990s. The established bus bodybuilder Northern Counties was bought in 1995 for £10m. The UK bus and coach manufacturing business, trading under the Plaxton brand, continued to produce a range of bus and coach bodywork. It also owned one of the largest UK coach dealers, Kirkby, and provided after-sales services to coach and bus operators.

In 1995, Henlys acquired a 49 per cent. share in Prévost, a leading North American manufacturer of coaches and bus shells. The remaining 51% of the company was owned by Volvo.

In February 1998, Prévost acquired Nova Bus, a city bus manufacturer for the Canadian and US market.

In July 1998 Henlys made an agreed bid of £190m for bus and utility vehicle maker Dennis. A hostile bidding war ensued with engineering group Mayflower, owners of Scottish bus builder Walter Alexander. Volvo lent its support to the Henlys bid, which was raised to £247m, but the Dennis board ultimately accepted Mayflower's £268.9m offer.

In 1999 Henlys announced they were planning to spend up to £100m on acquisitions, the money intended to be spent on the acquisition of Dennis, in order to expand its bus building activities in the US. After discussions with several companies, Henlys purchased Blue Bird, the US school bus manufacturer, for £267m. This prompted speculation that Volvo might bid for Henlys. Henlys raised £111m in a rights issue in order to fund the acquisition.

In August 2000, with continuing domestic sales difficulties, a joint venture was formed with Mayflower, now owners of the Dennis and Alexander brands. The joint venture, known as TransBus International, included only the United Kingdom bus manufacturing operations, including Plaxton and Northern Counties. Henlys held a 30% stake in the joint venture, which employed 3,300 employees at seven locations. The traditional brands of Alexander, Dennis and Plaxton were replaced by TransBus International. In 2004 Mayflower Group failed, and Transbus International went into receivership.

The remaining operations were also in financial difficulty. Henlys hoped to preserve the group's North American operations, which had strong order books. However, servicing debt had placed a considerable burden on the company. The North American operations were restructured, including closure of the Nova Bus factory in Roswell, New Mexico.

In May 2004 a new chairman, David James, was appointed to help rescue the company. In June 2004 it was announced that a restructuring of Henlys would leave the shares with little or no value, and that the company's problems were caused by over-paying for the Blue Bird business in 1999. Shares in the company were delisted from the Stock Exchange.

In October 2004 the Blue Bird operations were restructured with Volvo and creditor banks taking over the Henlys share. Volvo also took over the Prevost and Nova Bus operations.

The company was finally wound down over the course of 2004 and early 2005.

ee also

*Plaxton