Stagecoach co-founder Sir Brian Souter to step down as chairman
Sir Brian Souter, the colourful chairman of Stagecoach, on Wednesday said he will step down from the role at the transport giant he co-founded in 1980.
The 65-year-old’s plan to leave his post at the end of this month came alongside a wider board reshuffle update.
Scotsman Souter, a trained accountant and former bus conductor who grew up in Perth, started the company with sister Dame Ann Gloag with two second-hand buses. Today the firm operates over 8300 buses, coaches and trams, and employs 24,000 people.
Souter will continue on the board as a non-executive director. Gloag, aged 77, and Sir Ewan Brown, both long-serving non-executive directors, will retire on December 31. Non-executive director Ray O’Toole will become chairman.
Souter, a devoted Christian who unsuccessfully campaigned to keep Section 28, a law banning teachers discussing homosexuality in schools, said he will spend time on his other interests and with his family.
He added: “My family and I continue to have a significant shareholding in Stagecoach and I have every confidence in the management team, our strategy and the positive prospects of the business.”
Souter’s stake in the FTSE 250 business, which runs London buses, is worth around £116 million and Gloag’s share is approximately £84 million.
Stagecoach saw adjusted first-half pre-tax profits decrease 9% to £66.6 million and revenues fall to £800.2 million from £1 billion. The shares rose 4.6% to 131.4p on unchanged forecasts.
These numbers exclude the US business, which Stagecoach completed a sale of this year. The firm’s UK buses division was hit by poorer weather.
Its rail arm has scaled backed drastically and this month Virgin Trains, which is co-owned by Stagecoach and Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group, saw its long-standing franchise to run the West Coast Main Line finish.
