Rotala

History

In March 2005, Rotala was listed on the Alternative Investment Market. In August 2005 it agreed on terms to purchase Flights Hallmark.

Acquisitions

In October 2006, the business of Zak's Buses, Birmingham was purchased and rebranded Central Connect; this was followed in December 2006 by Birmingham Motor Traction (20 vehicles). In June 2007 Ludlow's of Halesowen (21 vehicles) was purchased followed in July 2007 by North Birmingham Busways (26 vehicles) of Erdington.

In April 2007, Flights Hallmark commenced operating services in Bristol under the Wessex Connect brand after winning the contract to provide two Bristol park & ride services, and in June 2007 purchased the bus routes of South Gloucestershire Bus & Coach with 68 buses.

In March 2008, the Go West Midlands business was purchased. At this stage Rotala merged all its Birmingham based operations under the Diamond Bus brand. In January 2011, Preston Bus was purchased from Stagecoach.

In January 2013, Rotala purchased depots in Kidderminster and Redditch from First Midland Red with 36 buses. These were integrated into the Diamond Bus operation. In March 2015, Rotala acquired South Lancs Travel from D&G Bus and Julian Peddle and rebranded it Diamond Bus North West.

In June 2015, the 17 vehicle Wings Luxury Travel operation in London was purchased and integrated with Rotala's existing Heathrow operation. In December 2015, Rotala purchased the Heathrow-based operations of OFJ Connections.

In July 2017, Hanson's Local Buses in Birmingham was purchased followed in August 2017 by the route service business of Go-Goodwins in Manchester and the Hotel Hoppa business from National Express in October 2017. Earlier the same year the majority of Wednesfield operations and several vehicles were purchased from Arriva Midlands.

In February 2018, Central Buses in Birmingham was purchased and integrated into Diamond Bus. Wessex Bus ceased operations on 1 September 2018, with eight services and nine vehicles taken over by Stagecoach West.

In August 2019, Rotala purchased First Greater Manchester's Bolton depot with 18 routes and integrated into Diamond Bus North West.

In January 2022, the purchase of Claribel Coaches of Birmingham was announced allowing the current owners to focus on the associated Birmingham International Coaches business. Diamond confirmed that the Claribels name would not be retained and all services and buses would be operated under the Diamond Bus name from April 2022. A number of routes, however, were transferred to National Express West Midlands due to the expiration of the tenders operated on behalf of Transport for West Midlands.

In April 2022, the acquisition of the bus operations of Johnsons Coaches, which operates under the Excelbus brand, were purchased. All bus operations will operate under the Diamond Bus brand from 29 May 2022 and will be operated from Redditch depot. The private hire and coach operations are not included in the deal and will continue to trade as Johnsons Coaches. Some Johnsons routes were started early "to assist Johnsons with some of their current operational difficulties".

In August 2022, it was announced the Rotala Group had purchased Midland Classic, marking Rotala's entry into the East Midlands. Midland Classic was rebranded Diamond East Midlands, with buses painted into Diamond fleet livery and the company directly controlled from Rotala's Tividale headquarters.

In January 2024, Rotala delisted from the Alternative Investment Market with directors Bob Dunn, Simon Dunn and John Gunn purchasing the business in a management buyout.

Former operations

Rotala's first acquisition was Surrey Connect in 2005, when Centra decided to sell its Addlestone operation. The business was purchased by Flights Hallmark. Surrey Connect developed and continued to grow and won contracts for a number of Surrey County Council tendered routes. Rotala sold the company in June 2007 to Wiltax. A few months later the Wiltax operations were acquired by Arriva.

References

References

1. https://www.route-one.net/people/bob-dunn-succeeds-john-gunn-as-rotala-group-chairman/
2. [http://data.companieshouse.gov.uk/doc/company/05338907 Rotala Limited] [[Companies House]]
3. [https://web.archive.org/web/20131105024911/http://www.rotalaplc.com/cmsUploads/investor/files/Rotala%20Admission%20Document%20August%202005.pdf Proposed Acquisition of Flights Hallmark Limited] Rotala 29 August 2005
4. [http://otp.investis.com/clients/uk/rotala/rns/regulatory-story.aspx?cid=182&newsid=199841 Acquisition of Zak's Bus and Coach Services Limited] Rotala 20 October 2006
5. [https://web.archive.org/web/20160304041404/http://otp.investis.com/clients/uk/rotala/rns/regulatory-story.aspx?cid=182&newsid=199836 Acquisition] Rotala 27 December 2006
6. [https://web.archive.org/web/20160304023524/http://otp.investis.com/clients/uk/rotala/rns/regulatory-story.aspx?cid=182&newsid=199825 Placing & Acquisitions] Rotala 18 June 2007
7. [https://web.archive.org/web/20160303222917/http://otp.investis.com/clients/uk/rotala/rns/regulatory-story.aspx?cid=182&newsid=199857 Acquisition of Ludlows of Halesowen Limited] Rotala 21 June 2007
8. [https://web.archive.org/web/20160901000000*/http://otp.investis.com/clients/uk/rotala/rns/regulatory-story.aspx?cid=182&newsid=199864 Trading Update/Acquisition] Rotala 30 July 2007
9. [https://web.archive.org/web/20130921053543/http://www.rotalaplc.com/about/History_6.html History] Rotala
10. [https://web.archive.org/web/20131006040633/http://www.rotalaplc.com/company/Wessex_3.html About Wessex] Rotala
11. [https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:2hck9PXbUzUJ:www.tbus.org.uk/transit_314.pdf+&hl=en&gl=uk&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESil6uyiY2SnPVBXSUMc3GrazT8ZdfT7cq46-6wTpIXXjAdQoclyFv6TIRV8nRgNPkIg3d1Fy5b-xPfhrXRUN2NCDJZPO3NSZUjs1jH9A58fJtDVl76re-mON0U5jjEexN8qXYkA&sig=AHIEtbQTqp1C_mlMKHbB3VacmjY0L5QcWA Rotala buys in the West Midlands & South West] ''Transit'' 29 June 2007 page 7
12. [https://web.archive.org/web/20160401000000*/http://otp.investis.com/clients/uk/rotala/rns/regulatory-story.aspx?cid=182&newsid=199870 Disposal of Go West Midlands] [[Go-Ahead Group]] 3 March 2008
13. [https://web.archive.org/web/20131101000000*/http://otp.investis.com/clients/uk/rotala/rns/regulatory-story.aspx?cid=182&newsid=199848 Acquisition] Rotala 25 January 2011
14. [https://web.archive.org/web/20120308223621/http://www.busandcoach.com/newspage.aspx?id=5000&categoryid=0 Rotala buys Preston Bus for £3.2million] ''Bus & Coach Professional'' 25 January 2011
15. [https://web.archive.org/web/20160901000000*/http://otp.investis.com/clients/uk/rotala/rns/regulatory-story.aspx?cid=182&newsid=306996 Acquisition in Worcestershire] Rotala 24 January 2013
16. [https://web.archive.org/web/20130927134403/http://thebuspeople.co.uk/?p=1782 Rotala snaps up FirstGroup's bus operations in Worcestershire for £1.5 million] ''The Bus People'' 24 January 2013
17. [https://web.archive.org/web/20130203062353/http://www.worcesternews.co.uk/news/10186852.First_sells_Worcestershire_bus_services/ First sells Worcester bus services] ''[[Worcester News]]'' 25 January 2013
18. [https://web.archive.org/web/20150501000000*/http://www.busandcoachbuyer.com/rotala-buys-south-lancs/ Rotala buys South Lancs] ''Bus & Coach Buyer'' 4 March 2015
19. Rotala buys South Lancs Travel ''[[Coach & Bus Week]]'' issue 1178 3 March 2015 page 7
20. [https://web.archive.org/web/20150508092405/http://www.rotalaplc.com/company/DiamondBusNorthWestLimited_12.html Diamond Bus North West Limited] Rotala
21. [https://web.archive.org/web/20160901000000*/http://www.busandcoachbuyer.com/rotala-acquires-wings/ Rotala acquires Wings] ''Bus & Coach Buyer'' 3 June 2015
22. [https://web.archive.org/web/20151202073903/http://www.route-one.net/industry/rotala-to-buy-part-of-ofj/ Rotala to buy part of OFJ] ''Route One'' 25 November 2015
23. [http://www.hansonslocalbus.co.uk/ Change of Ownership for Hanson's Local Buses] Hanson's Local Buses
24. [https://web.archive.org/web/20170825174634/http://www.diamondbuses.com/news/RotalaPlcpurchasesHansonsLocalBus_612.html Rotala plc purchases Hanson's Local Bus] Diamond Buses 28 July 2017
25. [https://web.archive.org/web/20170831081958/https://www.expressandstar.com/news/business/2017/08/29/rotala-buys-another-bus-business/ Rotala buys another bus business] ''[[Express & Star]]'' 29 August 2017
26. [https://web.archive.org/web/20171109024846/http://www.route-one.net/articles/Rotala_buys_Hotel_Hoppa Rotala buys Hotel Hoppa] ''Route One'' 17 October 2017
27. [https://web.archive.org/web/20180301000000*/https://cbwmagazine.com/rotala-buys-central-buses/ Rotala buys Central Buses] ''Coach & Bus Week'' 2 February 2018
28. Rotala grows again with £2m Central Buses deal ''[[Buses (magazine). Buses]]'' issue 756 March 2018 page 7
29. [https://web.archive.org/web/20180721030647/http://www.wessexbus.com/news/ImportantChangesforWessexBus_694.html Important Changes for Wessex Bus] Wessex Bus 20 July 2018
30. [https://web.archive.org/web/20180901000000*/https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/wessex-bus-close-services-42-1806005 Bus company to close – services cancelled and jobs lost] ''[[Bristol Post]]'' 20 July 2018
31. [https://www.londonstockexchange.com/exchange/news/market-news/market-news-detail/ROL/14126167.html Acquisition in Manchester] Rotala 27 June 2019
32. [https://web.archive.org/web/20190808125955/https://www.diamondbuses.com/news/dbnw-expanding/ Diamond North West services are expanding] Diamond Bus North West 25 July 2019
33. "Claribels Welcome {{!}} Diamond Bus".
34. (2022-02-01). "Diamond to acquire Claribels bus operations".
35. (2022-04-01). "Service changes from Sunday 24th April 2022".
36. "Johnsons Welcome {{!}} Diamond Bus".
37. (2022-04-29). "Diamond to acquire Johnsons ExcelBus bus operations".
38. (2022-05-05). "Diamond to take over some Johnsons services from Monday 9th May 2022".
39. (3 August 2022). "Midland Classic bought by Rotala as group grows reach". routeone.
40. Peat, Chris. (3 August 2022). "Rotala acquires Midland Classic". Bus & Coach Buyer.
41. [https://web.archive.org/web/20231122104948/https://www.route-one.net/news/rotala-move-out-of-publicly-traded-ownership-set-for-q1-2024/ Rotala move out of publicly-traded ownership set for Q1 2024] ''Route One'' 20 November 2023
42. [https://web.archive.org/web/20240116104423/https://www.route-one.net/news/rotala-move-into-private-ownership-clears-final-hurdle/ Rotala move into private ownership clears final hurdle] ''Route One'' 16 January 2024
43. [https://web.archive.org/web/20240207175045/https://www.londonstockexchange.com/news-article/market-news/cancellation-rotala-plc/16293680 Cancellation - Rotala plc] [[London Stock Exchange]] 18 January 2024