Rotala

Bus operating company in England

For the genus, see Rotala (plant).

Rotala

Company type| Private company

Traded as

| LSE: ROL
Industry| Bus & coach services
Founded| March 2005
Headquarters|

Oldbury, Birmingham, England

Key people

| John Gunn (Chairman)
Simon Dunn (CEO)
Revenue| £85 million (2022)

Operating income

| £4 million (2022)
Owner| Bob Dunn
Simon Dunn
John Gunn
Website| www.rotalaplc.com

Rotala Limited[1] is a company established in 2005, which owns a number of bus operators in England. It was listed on the Alternative Investment Market from 2005 until 2024.

## History[edit]

Hallmark Plaxton bodied Volvo B12B in March 2010 Diamond North West Mercedes-Benz Citaro, at Leigh bus station, August 2019

In March 2005, Rotala was listed on the Alternative Investment Market. In August 2005 it agreed on terms to purchase Flights Hallmark.[2]

## Acquisitions[edit]

In October 2006, the business of Zak's Buses, Birmingham was purchased[3] and rebranded Central Connect; this was followed in December 2006 by Birmingham Motor Traction (20 vehicles).[4] In June 2007 Ludlow's of Halesowen (21 vehicles) was purchased[5][6] followed in July 2007 by North Birmingham Busways (26 vehicles) of Erdington.[7]

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.[8][9][10]

In March 2008, the Go West Midlands business was purchased.[11] At this stage Rotala merged all its Birmingham based operations under the Diamond Bus brand. In January 2011, Preston Bus was purchased from Stagecoach.[12][13]

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.[14][15][16] In March 2015, Rotala acquired South Lancs Travel from D&G Bus and Julian Peddle and rebranded it Diamond Bus North West.[17][18][19]

In June 2015, the 17 vehicle Wings Luxury Travel operation in London was purchased and integrated with Rotala's existing Heathrow operation.[20] In December 2015, Rotala purchased the Heathrow-based operations of OFJ Connections.[21]

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.[22][23][24][25] 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.[26][27] Wessex Bus ceased operations on 1 September 2018, with eight services and nine vehicles taken over by Stagecoach West.[28][29]

In August 2019 Rotala purchased First Greater Manchester's Bolton depot with 18 routesand integrated into Diamond Bus North West.[30][31]

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.[32][33] 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.[34]

In April 2022 the acquisition of the bus operations of Johnsons Coaches, which operates under the Excelbus brand, were purchased.[35][36] 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".[37]

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.[38][39]

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.[40][41][42]

## Former operations[edit]

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[edit]

1. ^ Rotala Limited Companies House
2. ^ Proposed Acquisition of Flights Hallmark Limited Rotala 29 August 2005
3. ^ Acquisition of Zak's Bus and Coach Services Limited Rotala 20 October 2006
4. ^ Acquisition Rotala 27 December 2006
5. ^ Placing & Acquisitions Rotala 18 June 2007
6. ^ Acquisition of Ludlows of Halesowen Limited Rotala 21 June 2007
7. ^ Trading Update/Acquisition Rotala 30 July 2007
8. ^ History Rotala
9. ^ About Wessex Rotala
10. ^ Rotala buys in the West Midlands & South West Transit 29 June 2007 page 7
11. ^ Disposal of Go West Midlands Go-Ahead Group 3 March 2008
12. ^ Acquisition Rotala 25 January 2011
13. ^ Rotala buys Preston Bus for £3.2million Bus & Coach Professional 25 January 2011
14. ^ Acquisition in Worcestershire Rotala 24 January 2013
15. ^ Rotala snaps up FirstGroup's bus operations in Worcestershire for £1.5 million The Bus People 24 January 2013
16. ^ First sells Worcester bus services Worcester News 25 January 2013
17. ^ Rotala buys South Lancs Bus & Coach Buyer 4 March 2015
18. ^ Rotala buys South Lancs Travel Coach & Bus Week issue 1178 3 March 2015 page 7
19. ^ Diamond Bus North West Limited Rotala
20. ^ Rotala acquires Wings Bus & Coach Buyer 3 June 2015
21. ^ Rotala to buy part of OFJ Route One 25 November 2015
22. ^ Change of Ownership for Hanson's Local Buses Hanson's Local Buses
23. ^ Rotala plc purchases Hanson's Local Bus Diamond Buses 28 July 2017
24. ^ Rotala buys another bus business Express & Star 29 August 2017
25. ^ Rotala buys Hotel Hoppa Route One 17 October 2017
26. ^ Rotala buys Central Buses Coach & Bus Week 2 February 2018
27. ^ Rotala grows again with £2m Central Buses deal Buses issue 756 March 2018 page 7
28. ^ Important Changes for Wessex Bus Wessex Bus 20 July 2018
29. ^ Bus company to close – services cancelled and jobs lost Bristol Post 20 July 2018
30. ^ Acquisition in Manchester Rotala 27 June 2019
31. ^ Diamond North West services are expanding Diamond Bus North West 25 July 2019
32. ^ "Claribels Welcome | Diamond Bus". www.diamondbuses.com. Retrieved 7 May 2022.
33. ^ "Diamond to acquire Claribels bus operations". West Midlands Bus Users. 1 February 2022. Retrieved 7 May 2022.
34. ^ "Service changes from Sunday 24th April 2022". West Midlands Bus Users. 1 April 2022. Retrieved 7 May 2022.
35. ^ "Johnsons Welcome | Diamond Bus". www.diamondbuses.com. Retrieved 7 May 2022.
36. ^ "Diamond to acquire Johnsons ExcelBus bus operations". West Midlands Bus Users. 29 April 2022. Retrieved 7 May 2022.
37. ^ "Diamond to take over some Johnsons services from Monday 9th May 2022". West Midlands Bus Users. 5 May 2022. Retrieved 7 May 2022.
38. ^ "Midland Classic bought by Rotala as group grows reach". routeone. 3 August 2022. Retrieved 5 August 2022.
39. ^ Peat, Chris (3 August 2022). "Rotala acquires Midland Classic". Bus & Coach Buyer. Peterborough. Retrieved 5 August 2022.
40. ^ Rotala move out of publicly-traded ownership set for Q1 2024 Route One 20 November 2023
41. ^ Rotala move into private ownership clears final hurdle Route One 16 January 2024
42. ^ Cancellation - Rotala plc London Stock Exchange 18 January 2024

## External links[edit]

Media related to Rotala at Wikimedia Commons

* v
* t
* e

Rotala

Bus Operations|

* Diamond East Midlands
* Diamond North West
* Diamond South East
* Diamond West Midlands
* Hotel Hoppa
* Preston Bus

Coach & Private Hire Operations|

* Hallmark

Defunct Operations|

* Wessex Bus

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template