Alexander Dennis

Infobox Company
company_name = Alexander Dennis Ltd.
company_
company_type = Private
company_slogan =
foundation = 2004
location = flagicon|UK Falkirk, Scotland, UK
key_people =
num_employees =
industry = Automotive
products = Single & double-decker buses, fire engines
num_employees = 1,400
revenue = loss GB£6.6 million (2005)
homepage = [http://www.alexander-dennis.com www.alexander-dennis.com]

Alexander Dennis Limited (formerly known as TransBus International) is the largest bus builder in the United Kingdom and one of the largest in the world.

History

Alexander Dennis was formed as TransBus on 1 January 2001, after the merger of Mayflower Corporation-owned Walter Alexander Coachbuilders and Dennis Chassis, and Henlys owned-Plaxton, all based in the United Kingdom.

TransBus had a variety of factories around the United Kingdom from all three merged companies: the former Alexander factories at Falkirk, Scotland and Belfast, Northern Ireland, the former Plaxton factories at Anston and Scarborough, the former Northern Counties factory at Wigan, and the Dennis factory at Guildford.

At the height of TransBus, the company produced a range of both bus & coach chassis and bodies as well as fire engines and waste collection vehicles. Included among its range of chassis were the Dennis Dart, one of the all time best selling buses in the UK, and the Dennis Trident. TransBus also produced export variants for service in New York City, Hong Kong, and other locations. The Dennis Trident is the most common bus model in service in London.

Since the creation of TransBus merged both Plaxton and Alexander, the TransBus range included Plaxton coaches as well as two double decker bodies (the Plaxton President and the Alexander ALX400), the Alexander ALX300 citybus and the Pointer body built in quantity on the aforementioned Dennis Dart chassis, which replaced the Alexander ALX200 body built previously on a Dart chassis.

On 31 March 2004, the Mayflower Group was put into administration and by default TransBus also entered administration. On 17 May 2004, the Plaxton coach business was sold to its management and returned to its separate Plaxton identity (TransBus had been in the process of eradicating the traditional company names from the vehicles). Four days later, on 21 May 2004, the remaining part of TransBus (Alexander and Dennis) was bought by independent business men (one of whom was Brian Souter, owner of the Stagecoach Group, although the acquisition was kept separate from the bus and train operation). The new company became Alexander Dennis. The sale did not include the former Alexander Belfast plant, which later closed down.

On 26 January 2005, Alexander Dennis's Wigan plant was closed after finishing the orders of its President body.

Today

Alexander Dennis reported a pre-tax loss of £6.6m on a turnover of £195m for the 17 month period to 30 September 2005, including £5.7m of exceptional items in the five month "restructuring period" from administration. Excluding the restructuring period, a pre-tax profit of £7m was recorded on a turnover of £150m in the 12 month period to 30 September 2005.

Since the administration period and restructuring of the former TransBus International, Alexander Dennis has secured a number of major orders from UK operators, and is the favoured manufacturer of the Stagecoach Group. The company has also continued to find success in its predecessors' traditional markets of Hong Kong and the Republic of Ireland, with the Enviro500 securing orders in both markets, and the ALX400 double-deck body remaining the Dublin Bus standard vehicle.

Alexander Dennis is also building its share of the North American market, securing £25m worth of orders in 2005 for its Enviro500 model from customers in Victoria, British Columbia, New York City (open top models), San Francisco and Las Vegas.

The order book remains strong in the first quarter of 2006 and the company has unveiled two new models, the Enviro400 double-decker and Enviro200 Dart midibus.

In early 2007, Colin Robertson replaced Jim Hastie as the CEO of Alexander Dennis.

In May 2007, Alexander Dennis purchased Plaxton, thus the two former TransBus businesses were reunited.

Products

Bus bodies

*DM5000 (From Duple Metsec, 2001-2002)
*ALX200 (From Alexander, 2001)
*ALX300 (From Alexander, 2001-2007)
*ALX400 (From Alexander, 2001-2006)
*ALX500 (From Alexander, 2001-2002)
*Pointer (From Plaxton, 2001-2007)
*President (From Plaxton, 2001-2005)

Bus chassis

*Dart SLF
*Trident 2
*Trident 3

Complete buses (or chassis/body only)

*Enviro200/200H (2003-)
*Enviro200 Dart (2006-)
*Enviro300 (2001-)
*Enviro400 (2005-)
*Enviro500 (2002-)

Coach chassis

*Javelin
*R-Series

Fire engines

*Sabre
*Rapier - production ceased
*Dagger

External links

* [http://www.alexander-dennis.com Alexander Dennis's official website]
* [http://www.busride.com/article.asp?IndexID=321 BUSRide article on TransBus International, with details of its collapse]