Stagecoach Group plc ("Stagecoach") has announced that it has agreed to the sale of the retail
operations of its megabus Europe business to FlixMobility GmbH ("FlixBus"). Only those megabus.com retailing operations involving mainland Europe are part of the agreed sale.
The megabus Europe
business comprises both retailing activities and coach operating
activities. The retailing activities involve the design of inter-city
coach services, including their timetabling, co-ordination and
marketing, as well as the pricing and sale of journeys on those
services. The coach operating activities encompass the day-to-day
operation and staffing of the coach services. Stagecoach have agreed the sale
to FlixBus of the retailing part of that business. Stagecoach will continue to
operate a number of European inter-city coach services as a contractor
to FlixBus and look forward to building on relationships with it.
The sale of the megabusEurope
retail operations will complete on or around 1 July 2016. In addition,
Stagecoach has agreed that it will dispose of a number of vehicles to
FlixBus or its nominee at a future date.
The agreed amount of the consideration for
the sale of the retail operations will be satisfied by the issue of a
loan note from FlixBus to Stagecoach at completion. Stagecoach expects
the loan note to be fully settled by the end of 2017. Payment of the
loan note is not subject to any conditions or performance criteria which
need to be fulfilled.
The sale of the megabus
Stagecoach expects to report a gain on
disposal in respect of the sale in its consolidated financial statements
for the year ending 30 April 2017.
Existing customer bookings for megabus.com Europe journeys remain valid and these services are continuing to operate as normal. FlixBus is a leading retailer of inter-city coach travel in Europe - more information on it can be found, and travel can be booked, at www.flixbus.com.
↓ See posting below for Stagecoach Final Results ↓
↓ See posting below for Stagecoach Final Results ↓
