Sir Brian Souter (born 5 May 1954) is a Scottish businessman. With his sister, Ann Gloag, he founded the Stagecoach Group of bus and rail operators. He also founded the bus and coach operator Megabus, the train operating company South West Trains, his investments company Souter Holdings Ltd, and the Souter Charitable Trust.
Souter has been politically active in Scotland, and supported the Scottish National Party (SNP) financially. In 2000, when the Scottish Executive proposed to repeal Section 2A of the Local Government Act, which prevented local authorities from "promoting homosexuality", Souter started the Keep the Clause campaign to oppose their plans, spending £1 million of his own money to organise a private referendum across Scotland. In 2011, he was knighted for services to transport and the voluntary sector. The honour was criticised by Scottish Labour Party politicians and by gay rights campaigners.
In October 2019, Souter announced the donation of 28% of the total shares in Souter Investments to charitable causes, with an estimated value of £109 million. This was described in The Scotsman as "what could be the largest charitable donation by a Scot since ... Andrew Carnegie". This came after Souter's charitable trust had already spent over £98 million supporting "13,000 worthwhile causes" over 13 years. According to the Sunday Times Rich List in 2020, Souter and his sister Ann Gloag are worth £730 million, a decrease of £145 million from the previous year.
Life and career
Childhood and education
Souter was born in the Scottish city of Perth. His father was a bus driver and as a child Brian often travelled on bus routes with his father.intervoew on Radio New Zealand, 18 November 2014 At school he developed an interest in economics and accounts, about which he later said, "Changing my timetable from maths to include economics and accounts was one of the best things I've ever done."
On leaving school, he studied at the Dundee Institute of Technology (which became Abertay University in 1994) to become a commerce teacher. On completion he studied at Strathclyde University in Glasgow, where he graduated with a CA Diploma in Accountancy and Economics. Following his graduation, Souter became a Chartered Accountant at Arthur Andersen & Co.
Stagecoach
Using his father's redundancy money, with his sister Ann Gloag and his brother-in-law Robin Gloag he established the Stagecoach Group in 1980, running buses from Dundee to London. Following the deregulation of bus services in Great Britain, expansion continued, and in the late 1980s Stagecoach acquired National Bus Company subsidiaries in Cumberland and Hampshire, and the East Midlands, Ribble, Southdown and United Counties companies. Stagecoach also bought bus operations in Scotland, Newcastle and London, with Manchester being added a few years later. In 1993, Stagecoach was valued at £134 million and was floated on the London Stock Exchange to access capital for new opportunities for buses and trains overseas.
By the mid-1990s, Stagecoach developed its interests in Australia and New Zealand. The company further expanded with the purchase of Citybus, an operator of buses and ferries in Hong Kong, and Coach USA.
Stagecoach then bought a number of the new small bus companies and ran free or low-fare buses to put local rivals out of business. In Darlington, Stagecoach subsidiary Busways offered bounties to recruit drivers from the existing bus service and offered free buses to deter the rival preferred bidder from taking over that service. This practice was deemed as "predatory, deplorable and against the public interest" according to the Monopolies and Mergers Commission.
In 2009, Souter received a £1.6 million bonus. Stating "it was felt that in the present economic climate it would not be right for any individual to pocket a bonus package of £1.6million", he donated £900,000 to his own charity, the Souter Charitable Trust, which assists humanitarian projects in the UK and overseas. Most of the remainder was given to the staff pension fund.
In August 2012, it was announced that Souter would become chairman of Stagecoach Group on 1 May 2013, finance director Martin Griffiths replacing Souter as CEO. It was announced in December 2019 that Souter would step down from his role as chairman at the end of the year, but remain on the board as a non-executive director.
Rail operations
Shortly after Souter floated Stagecoach on the London Stock Exchange, he turned his attention to British railways. Initial experiments consisted of a Scotland to London service branded Stagecoach Rail with carriages attached to the Caledonian Sleeper. During the privatisation of British Rail, Stagecoach bid successfully to operate the South West Trains franchise from 1996 followed by the Island Line Trains later the same year. Stagecoach successfully bid to retain both when retendered in 2001 and 2006, before they passed to South Western Railway in 2017.Stagecoach wins railway franchise BBC News 22 September 2006
In 1998, Stagecoach purchased a 49% shareholding in Virgin Rail Group that operated the CrossCountry and West Coast franchises."Virgin passengers get 'better deal'" BBC News 7 October 1998 In 2007, Stagecoach commenced operating the East Midlands Trains franchise.Stagecoach Group welcomes East Midlands rail franchise win Stagecoach Group 22 June 2007 From April 2015 until June 2018, Virgin Trains East Coast, in which Stagecoach held a 90% share, operated the InterCity East Coast franchise.Stagecoach and Virgin win East Coast mainline rail franchise BBC News 27 November 2014
Megabus
In 2003, Souter added the bus and coach operator Megabus to the group. With its slogan "Low Cost Inter City Travel Serving Europe", it offered discounted travel across the UK and Europe. In 2012 it operated in 31 cities in the UK with a turnover in excess of £2 billion, with annual profits of over £250 million.
In April 2013 Souter announced a new Megabus overnight sleeper service from Scotland to London. The sleeper coaches cost £5 million to build, and have 53 leather seats which can be converted into 42 bunk beds. Passengers receive a onesie for sleeping in during the trip. This service ended in May 2017, due to it being consistently loss-making, and the coaches are now only used on daytime services.
Souter Investments
Souter has more than 200 private investments, which are managed by his company, Souter Investments. It makes investments across a broad range of asset classes, with a primary focus on private equity and a portfolio of more than 25 direct unquoted investments. The total portfolio, excluding Stagecoach, has increased in value by 9% per annum over 12 years.
Highland Global Transport
Souter and his sister Ann Gloag formed Highland Global Transport in 2012. It owns a portfolio of transport related investments valued at more than £600MAbout us on Highland Global Transport website, viewed 28 August 2014 including: Stagecoach Group (26%) Istanbul Deniz Otobusleri, a ferry operator on the Bosphoros and Sea of Marmara, Turkey (held by HGT shareholders direct) PolskiBus, an intercity coach service operator in Poland, sold to Flixbus in December 2017Polskibus.com enters partnership with FlixBus Coach & Bus Week issue 1326 23 January 2018 page 9PolskiBus to go green with Flixbus tie-up Buses issue 755 February 2018 page 20 Alexander Dennis, a bus and coach manufacturer in UK, Asia and North America. Mostly sold to NFI Group in May 2019. Argent Energy, a biodiesel manufacturer Sunseeker, a luxury motor yacht manufacturer OnniBus (75%), an intercity coach operator in Finland purchased in May 2014,Souter buys 75% of Finnish coach operator Herald Scotland 6 May 2014Souter Investments drives into Finnish market with OnniBus.com investment Dundee Courier 7 May 2014 sold October 2018We advised Koiviston Auto Group in its acquisition of OnniBus Eversheds Sutherland 5 October 2018Souter Investments sells Finland's OnniBus Buses issue 764 November 2018 page 20 SuperBus.com, an intercity coach operator in Baltic states
InMotion Group
Highland Global Transport has purchased and established a number of subsidiaries in New Zealand. In August 2015, these were brought together under the one umbrella as the InMotion Group with 340 buses and coaches and 17 ferries.Continued Expansion in New Zealand as Souter Holdings becomes InMotion Group Souter Holdings 19 August 2015Sir Brian Souter's investment company extends presence in New Zealand The Herald 19 August 2015Souter adds Reesby to expanding fleet Bay of Plenty Times 19 August 2015
Mana Coach Services, an urban bus operator in Wellington Howick & Eastern Buses, an urban bus operator in Auckland Fullers360, operator of commuter and tourist ferry services on Auckland Harbour and Hauraki Gulf ManaBus, an inter-city coach operator Naked Bus, an inter-city coach operator Reesby Buses, 40 vehicle coach operator
ManaBus and Naked Bus ceased operation on 15 July 2018, with the bus fleets being sold to Ritchies Transport. Reesby Buses was also sold to Ritchies in February 2019. Mana Coach Services and Howick & Eastern Buses were sold to Transdev in October and November 2019 respectively. This leaves Fullers360 as Souter's only subsidiary in New Zealand as of November 2019.
Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland
In April 2015, Souter was officially appointed vice president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland, alongside newly appointed president, Jim Pettigrew. Souter, who qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1984, was the sole nominee for the vice-president role. In May 2017 the organisation appointed him as its president.
Political activity
Section 28
In 2000, the Scottish Executive proposed the abolition of Section 28 laws, which forbade local authorities from "intentionally promoting homosexuality". Souter was a prominent leader of the Keep the Clause campaign, which sought to prevent its abolition. In Scotland, where Section 28 was known as clause 2A, Souter spent £1 million on the first privately funded postal referendum across Scotland to gauge public opinion. A spokesman for Souter stated "He is not in this for personal glory. He is fighting this battle because he is a father and committed Christian."
3,970,712 ballot papers were posted out and 31.8% valid votes were returned, a turnout rate lower than any Scottish national election. 86.8% were in favour of keeping Clause 28, 13.2% in favour of repeal.
Souter pointed out that the number of people who voted to keep the clause exceeded the number of votes cast for any single political party in Scotland at any election over the preceding ten years, although Scottish voters usually choose from four main parties, not two options. The campaign was ultimately unsuccessful.