Sir Brian Souter, the bearded philanthropist, must be wondering what it’ll take to get Stagecoach motoring again. The Scottish tycoon, who founded the bus, coach and train operator with his sister in 1980, has watched its shares head steadily south over the past year.
They are down almost 40% and ended last week at 224p, leaving Souter’s clan about £211m poorer from their combined 26% stake. All of this while fuel prices are at rock bottom.
Partly to blame is the Virgin East Coast rail franchise, in which Stagecoach holds a 90% stake. Things there have not gone quite to plan: revenues are well behind its wildly optimistic 8%-9% growth target. Everything from terrorism to airlines is eating into Stagecoach’s plans, leaving its pledge to