Henlys Group

Henlys Group, previously known as Plaxton, found it was unable to service the debt taken on for its North American expansion, liquidated what it could and closed its business in 2004.

When their private company was listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1928 they claimed to have one of the largest retail motor organisations in the country.

In 1946 Henlys distributed Armstrong Siddeley, Austin, Bentley, Jaguar, Riley, Rolls-Royce and Rover cars along with Studebaker vehicles for the whole of England and those of the Willys Overland Corporation including their famous Jeep.

[3] When Herbert Henly died in 1973 a brief obituary in The Times reported the business he had helped found ran 110 petrol stations, works departments and showrooms throughout Britain.

[5] In August 1984 Michael Ashcroft's Midepsa subsidiary, Coleman Milne, reported it held 59.8 per cent of Henly's shares.

[6] Henlys was bought by the Lord Ashcroft backed Hawley Goodall, owners of Coleman Milne, the makers of funeral hearses.

In 1989, Hawley Goodall sold its Motoring Division consisting of Henlys and Coleman Milne to the Plaxton Group, the bus and coach manufacturer based in Scarborough, North Yorkshire.

Henlys acquired a 49 percent share in Prévost, a leading North American manufacturer of coaches and bus shells in 1995.

A hostile bidding war ensued with engineering group Mayflower, owners of Scottish bus builder Walter Alexander.

In August 2000, with continuing domestic sales difficulties, a joint venture was formed with Mayflower, now owners of the Dennis and Alexander brands.

[11] TransBus Plaxton (Henlys) was sold to its managers, Brian Davidson and Mike Keane with the support of a private equity group.