Transport operator Rotala has acquired Preston Bus from Stagecoach for £3.2 million.

Transport operator Rotala has acquired Preston Bus from Stagecoach for £3.2 million.

The acquisition is to be financed by a hire purchase facility of £2.4 million, a bridging loan from Rotala’s bankers of £617,500 and the remainder from the company’s existing banking facilities.

John Gunn, chairman of Rotala, comments: ‘The extension of our network up the M6 to Preston will bring us a presence in a wholly new area of operation.’

Birmingham-based Rotala operates bus and coach services across the West Midlands and the South West, on both commercial and local authority bus routes. The AIM-listed company operates 450 vehicles and in 2009 had a turnover of £40.6 million.

Preston Bus runs 85 vehicles, operating in and around Preston. The company has 240 employees and in the year to April 2010 declared a pre-tax loss of £132,000 on a turnover of £7.75 million. The acquisition is expected to be earnings enhancing in the current financial year.