Shearings' parent company enter administration

[MotCO]

Technically Shearings didn’t own any neither to be pedantic. All on lease. Will be straight back to finance Co

I think the subtle difference was that Shearings operated their own fleet of coaches, whereas David Urquart sub-contracted the operation of the coaches to local companies around the country. These local companies would feel the loss of one of their contracts and could probably survive; Shearings has completely collapsed.
(Did Shearings operate all their own coaches or were any sub-contracted, i.e. operated in their livery, but owned by local companies as opposed to spot-hiring?)

 

[richw]

I think the subtle difference was that Shearings operated their own fleet of coaches, whereas David Urquart sub-contracted the operation of the coaches to local companies around the country. These local companies would feel the loss of one of their contracts and could probably survive; Shearings has completely collapsed.
(Did Shearings operate all their own coaches or were any sub-contracted, i.e. operated in their livery, but owned by local companies as opposed to spot-hiring?)

Look to have roughly 300 o licences

 

[S&CLER]

All this makes me even more grateful that I have got £3012 of other people's money back in cash for a holiday at Llandrindod Wells I was organising with Alfa Travel of Euxton. The refunds have been paid just over a month after our intended departure date. Still waiting for nearly another £5000 in credit notes, but I expect the cash refunds are being dealt with more urgently. Alfa is an employee-owned company, so perhaps more likely to survive.

 

[Swimbar]

Look to have roughly 300 o licences

I believe that all the Caledonian Travel coaches were hired from other operators - Parks of Hamilton etc.

 

[Rod Harrison]

• Swallow, Rainham - 31st March
• Sea View, Poole - April
• Dan's Luxury, Waltham Abbey - April
• Alexcars, Cirencester - 7th April
• Nova Tours, Chesterfield - 16th April
• Truemans, Ash Vale - 24th April
• Diamond Coaches, Rushden - 30th April
• Shearings & National Holidays - 22nd May

Halifax bus company TJ Walsh also ceased trading in late March.

Sadly, there will probably quite a few more to add to the list over the coming months as bus and coach travel will take a long time to get back to pre-crisis levels.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Technically Shearings didn’t own any neither to be pedantic. All on lease. Will be straight back to finance Co

Which means there will be lots of cheap deals on good coaches for people to start new tourism businesses once this is over.

 

[richw]

All this makes me even more grateful that I have got £3012 of other people's money back in cash for a holiday at Llandrindod Wells I was organising with Alfa Travel of Euxton. The refunds have been paid just over a month after our intended departure date. Still waiting for nearly another £5000 in credit notes, but I expect the cash refunds are being dealt with more urgently. Alfa is an employee-owned company, so perhaps more likely to survive.

If they’re giving cash refunds it means they have the cash.

Shearings refused cash refunds when covid started cancelling stuff only offering rebooking and vouchers. I said on A Facebook Post it was because they didn’t have the cash and on the verge of collapse to repeatedly told I was wrong!

 

[Swimbar]

Which means there will be lots of cheap deals on good coaches for people to start new tourism businesses once this is over.

Unlikely to happen with the large number of hotels that have already indicated that they are not going to reopen and Coach companies closing down.
Where is the money going to come from once the Government stops bailing companies out with the furlough scheme.
If the future prospects are so good why did nobody want to save Shearings etc?

 

[Bletchleyite]

Unlikely to happen with the large number of hotels that have already indicated that they are not going to reopen

It's not a "large number" - there are at least tens of thousands of hotels in the UK, and opening new ones (particularly small ones) is not that difficult.

What's happening is the continuing clearout of barely-viable businesses. People are not going to stop going on holiday permanently.

Why not rescue Shearings? Well, because why enter the market now and end up paying lots of costs with no revenue? Enter it when lockdown is over and you can fully operate. With the Internet for bookings, the barrier to entry is relatively low. There is literally no point buying a bus company that has no solid operations to take over, as no other aspect of one has value - just set your own up. There will be plenty of buses to lease/buy and staff to employ, possibly even on lower wages than they were on.

 

[Swimbar]

Some people are not in the real world!!

 

[Bletchleyite]

Some people are not in the real world!!

Some people adapt to the circumstances.

 

[richw]

Unlikely to happen with the large number of hotels that have already indicated that they are not going to reopen and Coach companies closing down.
Where is the money going to come from once the Government stops bailing companies out with the furlough scheme.
If the future prospects are so good why did nobody want to save Shearings etc?

Someone buying the brand names is potentially more attractive. Want a coach holiday... who do you google first. Shearings is the first brand name that comes to many’s minds and probably the most valuable asset as everything was leased and mortgaged so high

 

[hst43102]

• Diamond Coaches, Rushden - 30th April
• Shearings & National Holidays - 22nd May

Diamond Coaches ceased trading? Sorry for being off topic, but - why?

 

[Robertj21a]

Technically Shearings didn’t own any neither to be pedantic. All on lease. Will be straight back to finance Co

Far too pedantic ! - I suppose the real issue is more to do with who is an operator - Shearings was. DU wasn't.

 

[Glenn1969]

Will any holidays be permitted this year? Don't forget a lot of Shearings and National Holidays customers were pensioners and other vulnerable people including me and my Mum. When will they be let out of lockdown?

Unfortunately I think this year is a write off

 

[freetoview33]

Will any holidays be permitted this year? Don't forget a lot of Shearings and National Holidays customers were pensioners and other vulnerable people including me and my Mum. When will they be let out of lockdown?

Unfortunately I think this year is a write off

I'm inclined to agree that this year isn't going to happen! And id even say next year isn't clearly going to happen.

But yes I think there will be plenty of opportunities to have once this is over. People still will want holidays not as many but people will then in 5 or so years it will be Back to something we can call normal.

 

[PG]

There will be plenty of buses to lease/buy and staff to employ, possibly even on lower wages than they were on.

Will there be plenty of buyers though?
TBH that sounds like bus deregulation was in the eighties - employ staff at lower cost and have a race to the bottom. Some staff may then decide to find other employment outside of the industry in order to preserve their standard of living. Pay peanuts - Get monkeys!

 

[Flange Squeal]

Will there be plenty of buyers though?
TBH that sounds like bus deregulation was in the eighties - employ staff at lower cost and have a race to the bottom. Some staff may then decide to find other employment outside of the industry in order to preserve their standard of living. Pay peanuts - Get monkeys!

I guess a large supply of young Euro VI coaches might have some appeal to operators needing to upgrade for future CAZs and London LEZ extension, and they could possibly acquire more than one offering them a bit of standardisation rather than relying on individual vehicles that appear on the second hand market. But on the other side of the coin, can’t imagine those operators opening their wallets for a while, until the future is a bit more certain! That said, Turners Coachways of Bristol couple of days ago took all seven Irizars from recently defunct Truemans, four of those being Euro VIs, which must be a few quids worth of kit in the current climate.

Coach driving is (in my experience having done both jobs) generally lower paid than bus driving, yet can arguably be considered tougher navigating a large vehicle round places you’ve never been before, as well as the lovely task of being responsible for cleaning the bog at the end of every day. As you point out, of the race to the bottom gets any lower, it could well be to the detriment of surviving companies themselves. Less experienced and/or low paid drivers are unlikely to satisfy their customers due to lack of interest/loyalty, meaning damage to reputation and business going forward in the long run (if not the vehicles too!).

 

[richw]

Coach driving is (in my experience having done both jobs) generally lower paid than bus driving

I know here in Cornwall/Plymouth area Parks (Natex) are lowest payers and struggle with driver retention. Last I looked they paid around 15-20% less than First, Stagecoach & Go Ahead

 

[Andy Pacer]

I know here in Cornwall/Plymouth area Parks (Natex) are lowest payers and struggle with driver retention. Last I looked they paid around 15-20% less than First, Stagecoach & Go Ahead

When we had a coach unit where I work (which did National Express work and some local service Express work) those drivers were indeed paid less than the normal service drivers. Often the newer drivers would aspire to go on the coaches but then once in there realised it wasnt as glamorous as it looked!

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

When we had a coach unit where I work (which did National Express work and some local service Express work) those drivers were indeed paid less than the normal service drivers. Often the newer drivers would aspire to go on the coaches but then once in there realised it wasnt as glamorous as it looked!

Bus and coach driving are like Rugby League and Rugby Union. There's some shared basic, very significant components but otherwise, they're markedly different disciplines and a different mentality required.

 

[Swimbar]

Bus and coach driving are like Rugby League and Rugby Union. There's some shared basic, very significant components but otherwise, they're markedly different disciplines and a different mentality required.

Coach drivers always did well on tips from the customers but those days have gone!

 

[Eyersey468]

Some National Holidays branded coaches were owned by subcontractors, I wonder what they will do with them once this is over

 

[PG]

Some National Holidays branded coaches were owned by subcontractors, I wonder what they will do with them once this is over

Depends if they've got any work for them:

Yes - then use them minus NH branding​

No - sell them​

 

[david1212]

I've just read a comment elsewhere but can not quickly substantiate it that Shearings / Specialist Leisure Group Limited is/was owned by an American Holding company.

True or false ?

If true potentially little concern for UK employees and non for UK dependant businesses.

 

[philthetube]

Many hoteliers/B&B's have already said that an August start (which still seems unlikely) is not worth the bother as, for many, the season ends in the UK during September (apart from Blackpool etc)

The Hotels belonging to coach operators such as Shearings and Alfa are normally open all year round, Alfa close for a month after new year, so would probably have looked to open as soon as possible.


Why not rescue Shearings? Well, because why enter the market now and end up paying lots of costs with no revenue? Enter it when lockdown is over and you can fully operate. With the Internet for bookings, the barrier to entry is relatively low. There is literally no point buying a bus company that has no solid operations to take over, as no other aspect of one has value - just set your own up. There will be plenty of buses to lease/buy and staff to employ, possibly even on lower wages than they were on.
[/QUOTE]
The biggest barrier to entry to the holiday market is probably the ABTA bond.

 

[PG]

I've just read a comment elsewhere but can not quickly substantiate it that Shearings / Specialist Leisure Group Limited is/was owned by an American Holding company.

True or false ?

If true potentially little concern for UK employees and non for UK dependant businesses.

As far as I can ascertain Specialist Leisure Group is owned ultimately by an Irish unlimited private company based in Dublin called

LONE STAR INTERNATIONAL FINANCE HOLDINGS (IRELAND) UNLIMITED COMPANY.​

Since Companies Registration Office (Irish entity similar to UK Companies House) charges fees to access documents I've not delved any further into the matter.

 

[Volvodart]

Parent company Specialist Leisure Group (SLG), owned by Texas-based private equity firm Lone Star Funds.

 

[FQTV]

I've just read a comment elsewhere but can not quickly substantiate it that Shearings / Specialist Leisure Group Limited is/was owned by an American Holding company.

True or false ?

If true potentially little concern for UK employees and non for UK dependant businesses.

As far as I can ascertain Specialist Leisure Group is owned ultimately by an Irish unlimited private company based in Dublin called

LONE STAR INTERNATIONAL FINANCE HOLDINGS (IRELAND) UNLIMITED COMPANY.​

Since Companies Registration Office (Irish entity similar to UK Companies House) charges fees to access documents I've not delved any further into the matter.

SLG is owned by Lone Star, which is indeed a US Private Equity Fund:

Lone Star Funds Private Equity Real Estate Lone Star

Lone Star Funds “Lone Star” is a leading private equity firm that invests globally in distressed assets established its first fund in 1995

www.lonestarfunds.com

About Lone Star
Lone Star (“Lone Star”) is a leading private equity firm advising funds (the “Funds”) that invest globally in real estate, equity, credit and other financial assets. Since the establishment of its first Fund in 1995, Lone Star has organized twenty private equity Funds with aggregate capital commitments totaling approximately $85 billion. The Funds are structured as closed-end, private equity limited partnerships, the limited partners of which include corporate and public pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, university endowments, foundations, funds of funds and high net worth individuals. The Funds are advised by Lone Star Global Acquisitions, Ltd. (“LSGA”), an investment adviser registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. LSGA and its global subsidiaries advise the Funds from offices in North America, Latin America, Western Europe and Asia.

I haven’t looked at the SLG Report & Accounts beyond noting that they were latterly recording a profit margin of c1% of gross turnover, but I’d speculate that it’ll have been so low owing to debt repayments back to Lone Star and/or repayments of debt secured against the hotels.

There’s a phrase for this kind of thing - I’ll leave others to guess what that is!

As an aside and in the scheme of things, ABTA costs aren’t especially high.

It’s very true, though, that there’s no point wading into a market that has zero turnover and paying anything like a premium for a business in that market. Much better to wait until things get moving again, and for competitors to pick up the increasing demand that they’ll be desperate for.

The issue is the longer term one, I fear. The more of those hotels that are sold to property developers and converted to apartments, or are even just altered in other ways to move them out of the coach tour market, the less capacity there’ll be in what’s a really important part of our domestic leisure travel industry.

 

[richw]

Lone star specialise in distressed businesses. Typically they sell or mortgage up everything that is owned, and lease everything back to generate big cash quick