How does Leger Shearings Group boss Liam Race describe the decision to purchase the Shearings coach touring brand in the middle of the worst crisis the travel industry has ever faced?
“A big gamble,” he reflects candidly.
In May 2020, Shearings went under after more than 100 years of trading when its then parent company, Specialist Leisure Group (SLG), entered administration in the teeth of the Covid-19 crisis.
The unexpected opportunity to “acquire the biggest brand in the coaching industry” was initially “a very difficult decision” for the management team admits Race, who was Leger’s commercial director at the time of the Shearings purchase in June 2020.
“It was very tough – cash flow management has been imperative throughout the pandemic with very little government support, which we were very aware of,” remembers Race. “But when we started to unpeel the opportunity, it became a really easy decision. We knew the power of the Shearings brand, and the passenger volumes were huge.”
Wind the clock forward a year, and Race heads up a new, expanded coach holidays specialist – Leger Shearings Group – having been promoted to chief executive in January, replacing Ian Henry, who is now the group’s executive chair.
The pandemic has obviously created many operational headaches for both the Shearings and Leger brands over the past year, but Race’s optimism about the company’s post-Covid expansion plans is infectious.
The company has already refurbished its HQ in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, and has launched a major recruitment drive. Race, meanwhile, stresses the vital role he believes agents will play to help Leger Shearings achieve its ambitious growth targets and become the “number one escorted coach touring company in Britain”.
THE FIRST YEAR
Race says the Shearings purchase created the opportunity to “transform” the business, with much of the work over the past year involving putting the “building blocks” in place to take advantage of pent-up demand as the UK emerges from the pandemic.
He’s quick to point out Leger and Shearings will continue to “operate very much independently” and target different types of holidaymakers, with Leger offering a more “premium” product with coaches seating up to 31 or 40 passengers and five-star accommodation, while Shearings remains a “value proposition” with up to 49 passengers on its coaches and three-star hotels. Shearings also has a wide portfolio of UK breaks, while Leger primarily offers European trips – including tours to battlefields on the continent.
The company moved swiftly to get Shearings’ trips back on sale in summer 2020; it built a fully transactional website within two weeks of the acquisition and produced a 200-page brochure within a month.
“When we went on sale, we had 380,000 sessions over three days. There was a phenomenal volume of traffic – we’d never experienced that before,” Race recalls. “We analysed our performance against the old SLG Shearings and we were achieving 60% of their sales volumes, a really strong result in the middle of the pandemic.”
But the “stop-start” nature of 2020 meant the revived Shearings brand could only really operate in October 2020 before lockdowns forced the suspension of all trips. It finally resumed UK tours on 17 May 2021. Leger, meanwhile, has not operated any European trips since March 2020.
RESUMPTION AND EXPANSION
Race says one of the “most positive things” for both brands is that virtually all over-60s, their key customer base, have received both Covid jabs and are eager to travel again.
“This gives us a lot of confidence – the double-jabbed are ready to travel and experience the best of Europe,” he says.
“Shearings is all UK until we can get over to Europe. I hope we can resume European tours for both brands in September. The key is France and Belgium opening up because those are our gateways from Dover.”
Tapping into pent-up demand for coach tours will be vital for Leger Shearings in year two, as Race says he wants turnover to double in 2022 compared with what Leger Holidays was doing in 2019.
To help achieve this, Leger Shearings is in the process of recruiting 50 to 60 new staff, mainly in sales, product and operations – increasing the company’s staffing levels to between 130 and 150. Product development will also be crucial, with plans to increase Shearings’ European programme and offer more river cruises. Leger’s 2023 tours are already on sale and have been “performing quite well” with customers “trying to make up for lost time” during the Covid crisis, Race reveals.
Other investments will include a new Leger website and improvements to the Shearings platform, as well as developing separate apps for coach drivers and customers.
MESSAGE TO AGENTS
The trade will have a leading part to play in Leger Shearings’ expansion plans too, says Race, who emphasises how agents will be “even more important” in the coming years, with the group’s adverts set to feature agent calls to action.
“Our target demographic likes to interact with people and visit agents who can give them advice – we want to work more with agents,” he adds. “We have some of the best products clients can buy.”
Does he have a message for them? “Please reach out to our head of retail, Ashley Dellow. We’re waiting to work with you,” says Race categorically.
Despite the ongoing challenges of the pandemic, Race says the Shearings acquisition has already “paid off tremendously well”, adding he was looking forward to both brands “operating fully” soon.
“Being a chief executive for the first time – it’s fantastic,” he enthuses. “If there’s one lesson [to be learnt] from the pandemic, I think it’s to be brave and bold. That’s what the Shearings acquisition has demonstrated to us: push hard and take risks, and you’ll be rewarded.”
But the hard work for Leger Shearings Group is only just beginning if the company is to reach the “landmark” of an annual turnover of £100 million in 2024. Achieving that goal, though, will mean working even more closely with the trade over the next three years.
Race’s message to agents is clear – there’s plenty to come for them in the group’s plans.
