Just the ticket for Optare as bus demand grows

Announcing its annual results for the year to December 31, the group said it has accepted an offer for its Rotherham site which was closed last July.

The closure meant that the group's operating sites were reduced from three to two in Leeds and Blackburn, which are both providing flexible production.

The group is looking for strong demand for single-deck buses in 2011 and 2012, driven by the desire among transport operators to avoid new legislation in 2013 and compliance with Disability Discrimination legislation which is required for all single-decker buses by 2014. In addition as the UK economy climbs out of recession, more buses will be replaced.

Optare has almost halved its workforce from a peak of 913 full-time staff to 474, resulting in a 2.5m non-recurring redundancy charge.

The group, which at one point employed 300 staff at its Leeds factory, introduced short-time working at its Blackburn and Leeds plants.

However all staff are once again working a full working week.

The group said the order book had increased by 189 per cent from 8.8m in September to 25.4m last month.

Optare supplies the big transport operators including Stagecoach, Go-Ahead and First Group.

The group said that strategic partnership discussions are progressing well and the board expects to make a further announcement by the end of June The group is also making significant progress in export growth with breakthrough orders anticipated in coming months.

The group said its investment in green bus technology is well-timed as the trend toward low carbon technology gathers momentum.

Chairman John Fickling said that the appointment of Jim Sumner as chief executive a year ago was a major coup as he has "a wealth of experience" of strategic development in the commercial vehicle manufacturing industry.

The group said it aims to be a European leader in green bus technologies with the development of a full range of options from hybrids to electric and dual fuel vehicles.