...after it buys East London Bus Group (Selkent, East London and Thameside), its London operations which it sold to an Australian bank for £263 million four years ago, for just £52.8 million
It's hardly a profit as that profit would have been from the original purchase cost less that sale price
You would therefore need to deduct that from the original profit
This seems to be a growing trend where "banks" were investing in other diverse industries
Changes in rules means that in most cases "banks" are no longer permitted to be the major shareholder
Many such "banks" have decided to simply sell these companies outright, rather than remain as a minority shareholder
The operational profit since original purchase therefore make these worthwhile sales, even if the return is only about 10% of that original cost
Equally, Stagecoach at this time is not particularly interested in acquistions but is in a period of consoldation
One of the major shareholders is one such "bank", but they have a minority interest now (unlike in the 1990s)
However, many wonder is Stagecoach is building up yet another "war chest" as the cash balance has increased over the last three years, such speculation includes merging with an airline company
With respect to the rail industry it could mean a speculative bid with Virgin Rail Group to operate both the West Coast and East Coast franchises, including a similar proposal with the ECML for improvements to their own specification along with longer franchises (by that time the cash balance will be a massive five years)
