Stagecoach Group

Stagecoach Group Limited

Formerly	Stagecoach Group plc
Company type	Private
Industry	Public transport
Founded	9 March 1980 (1980-03-09)
Founders	Brian Souter Ann Gloag Robin Gloag
Headquarters	Perth, Scotland, UK
Area served	United Kingdom
Key people	Ray O'Toole (Chairman) Claire Miles (Chief Executive)
Products	Bus, coach, tram and train services
Revenue	£1,372.6 million (2023)[1]
Operating income	£77.8 million (2023)[1]
Net income	£23.2 million (2023)[1]
Number of employees	24,000 (2023)[2]
Parent	Inframobility
Website	www.stagecoachgroup.com

Stagecoach Group is a transport group based in Perth, Scotland. It operates buses and express coaches in the United Kingdom.

Stagecoach was originally founded in 1976 as Gloagtrotter, a recreational vehicle and minibus hire business. During the early 1980s, it took advantage of the deregulation of the British express coach market, launching services from Dundee to London using second-hand Neoplan coaches, competing against the then state-owned National Express Coaches and Scottish Citylink. Stagecoach purchased several recently-privatised national bus groups from London Regional Transport, the National Bus Company, Scottish Bus Group and various city councils, as well as pursuing those that had opted for management buyouts and employee-owned corporations. During August 1996, Stagecoach acquired roughly one-third of all passenger rolling stock in the UK via the acquisition of the recently-privatised leasing company Porterbrook; it sold the company on four years later. In 1997, Stagecoach was awarded the franchise to operate the recently privatised Sheffield Supertram system. In 1998, it purchased Prestwick Airport.

Following the sale of its London bus operations to Macquarie Bank in 2006, Stagecoach UK Bus concentrated on the bus market outside the UK capital. During 2007, the Virgin Rail Group, in which Stagecoach held a 49% stake, was awarded the East Midlands franchise. In July 2007, it commenced operating the Manchester Metrolink tram network. During January 2009, Stagecoach purchased Preston Bus, a former rival in the Lancashire area, but was promptly compelled to sell it by the Competition Commission. In October 2010, it expanded further by re-acquiring East London and Selkent, Stagecoach's former London bus operations. During March 2015, Virgin Trains East Coast, in which Stagecoach held a 90% shareholding, commenced operating the InterCity East Coast franchise; the franchise was terminated early three years later as it was unable to fulfil the agreed payments.

During April 2019, private equity house Variant acquired Stagecoach's US division in exchange for $271 million. In April 2019, Stagecoach was disqualified from participating in three rail franchise competitions by the Department for Transport after it submitted non-compliant bids. During September 2021, it was reported that rival company National Express entered into talks to acquire Stagecoach. In May 2022, a rival takeover offer from a DWS managed investment fund bought Stagecoach.