BIG Expansion For McGill’s Buses With Purchase Of Dundee OperationGREENOCK-based bus company McGill’s is buying a large operator based in Dundee.
National Express has agreed to sell its Xplore Dundee bus travel and Xplore More coach travel operations, which have 350 employees and a fleet of 120 buses.
The business turns over more than £18million a year and is based at the East Dock Street site that it has occupied since being owned by the local council.
The deal is subject to completion by the end of the year.
McGill’s, owned by brothers Sandy and James Easdale, will be licenced to operate 850 buses, have 1,200 employees and will now have a turnover of £60million.
The deal makes McGill’s Buses the biggest independent bus operator in the UK.
Ralph Roberts, chief executive of McGill’s Buses, said: “We are purchasing the shares of the company and all activities will carry on as normal. There are no immediate plans to change the branding of the buses.”
McGill’s Buses has grown rapidly during the past decade following its purchase of Arriva Scotland West in a landmark deal in March 2012. The group had more than 30 million passenger journeys in 2019.
Last March, McGill’s unveiled 26 low-emission buses bought from Alexander Dennis in a £4.75million purchase.
That acquisition took McGill’s capital investment since 2014 to more than £30million — almost £24million of that on new vehicles.
The McGill’s Buses deal for Xplore Dundee and Xplore More caps an extraordinary year of activity for the Easdale brothers, with this week’s announcement of the acquisition of an extensive waterfront site at Dumbarton bringing their total construction projects to well over £400million.
Sandy Easdale said: “We have a clear vison for growth and profitability and we are able to conclude deals speedily and with the minimum of fuss. This is the way we have always worked.”
McGill’s chairman James Easdale said: “The Xplore acquisition is a perfect fit for us. Whilst others are shying away from investment, we are always looking for new opportunities in both construction and transport.”
