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.[4] 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."[5]
On leaving school, he studied at the Dundee Institute of Technology (which became Abertay University in 1994) to become a commerce teacher.[6] 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.[7] 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.[8] 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.[9]
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.[7] 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.[10][11]
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.[12][13]
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.[14] 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.[15]
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.[16]
In 1998, Stagecoach purchased a 49% shareholding in Virgin Rail Group that operated the CrossCountry and West Coast franchises.[17] In 2007, Stagecoach commenced operating the East Midlands Trains franchise.[18] From April 2015 until June 2018, Virgin Trains East Coast, in which Stagecoach held a 90% share, operated the
Megabus
In 2003, Souter added the bus and coach operator Megabus to the group.[20] 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.[21]
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.[22] This service ended in May 2017, due to it being consistently loss-making, and the coaches are now only used on daytime services.[23]
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 £600M[24] 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 2017[25]
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 £600M[24] 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 2017[25][26]
- Alexander Dennis, a bus and coach manufacturer in UK, Asia and North America. Mostly sold to NFI Group
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.[31][32][33]
ManaBus and Naked Bus ceased operation on 15 July 2018, with the bus fleets being sold to Ritchies Transport.[34] Reesby Buses was also sold to Ritchies in February 2019.[35] Mana Coach Services and Howick & Eastern Buses were sold to Transdev Australasia in October and November 2019 respectively.[36]
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.[40] 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.[41]
