Whereas Kelvin had been one of the more successful of the Scottish Bus Group subsidiaries, Central was financially weakened, suffered from heavy competition and burdened with a large debt.

In 1990, KCB ceased to operate Scottish Citylink services with the profit margin deemed insufficient.

As part of the Scottish Bus Group, only one bid was lodged, a management buyout with the sale effective from 18 February 1991.

[3][4] Many of the smaller independent operators that competed heavily with Kelvin Central were successfully purchased, paving the way for Kelvin Central to become the dominant operator once again in much of Lanarkshire but also giving it a rather mixed and sometimes rather elderly fleet.

[5][6] The ownership issue was not to be resolved until June 1996, when FirstBus purchased SB Holdings, including Stagecoach's 20% shareholding.