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Trafalgar House (company)
Encyclopedia
Trafalgar House Public Limited Company was a British
conglomerate
with interests in property investment
, property development, engineering
, construction
, shipping
, hotel
s, energy and publishing
. Founded in 1963, it was listed on the London Stock Exchange
and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index
.
became managing director of a subsidiary company of Eastern International Investment Trust, which was quoted on the London Stock Exchange
. The subsidiary had then been in existence about two years, undertaking property development and investment. In 1962 it acquired a portfolio of properties from one of the backers of its commercial development arm, and adopted as its new company identity the name of one of them - namely 'Trafalgar House'. The following year the company offered its shares to the public.
In 1964 Broackes brought into the company Victor Matthews
, who was fourteen years his senior. Matthews became Broackes' principal lieutenant for the next eighteen years, until parting from him to take control of Express Newspapers
, which Trafalgar House had decided to spin off from the group. Nigel Broackes was knighted in 1984 for services to the development of the London docklands, and Victor Matthews was ennobled in 1980 (as Lord Matthews of Southgate) for unswerving support to the Conservative Party
.
In the course of thirty years or so, Trafalgar House became a formidable international industrial and commercial undertaking. During the final few years of its existence, it was consistently tabled as the largest contracting organisation in the UK and one of the largest in Europe
.
Divisions or operating areas of Trafalgar House plc
Companies or groups within Trafalgar House plc
for £
75 million in 1995.
In 1988 Trafalgar House was involved in a joint development with British Aerospace
(BAe) to redevelop the former Royal Small Arms Factory
site at Enfield
.
In 1995 it bought the bomb-damaged site of the historic Baltic Exchange
building, at 30 St Mary Axe
in London, which had been severely damaged when the Provisional Irish Republican Army
detonated a bomb nearby on 10 April 1992. The building's former owner, the Baltic Exchange
, was unable to bear the costs of fully restoring the building to English Heritage
's requirements and sold the site to Trafalgar House. In 1998 the site was resold, with planning permission
, for £81 million to Swiss Re
, who commissioned and occupied the renowned Gherkin building, designed by Foster and Partners
.
s and also implemented licensed processes, such as the Union Carbide Corporation Polyethylene Plant. The basic processes were engineered to fit the purchaser's requirements, including the site plan, the production capacity, the raw material feedstock, and other constraints. John Brown Engineering had been the engineering division of the shipbuilder
John Brown & Company
of Clydebank
.
In 1992 Trafalgar House acquired the Davy Corporation a group of international engineering companies which also included a well-established UK wide construction division. The acquisition was principally to secure Davy's engineering skills and operations but the construction arm was a bonus for Trafalgar House, who were able to widen their national coverage in that sector.
, a dynasty of Scottish origin. Simon Keswick
took the chair at Trafalgar House in 1994 but the company fortunes continued to slide, and on 15 December 1995 Keswick announced a further loss of £321 million. The aggregate loss over those few years was then approaching a billion pounds. Dividends were stopped and it was declared that they would not resume until sustainable profit had returned.
On 18 April 1996 Norwegian
shipbuilding and engineering group Kvaerner acquired Trafalgar House plc following a £904 million offer. The acquisition provided Kvaerner with a broad-based portfolio of companies with thirty-four thousand staff.
arrangements for the many thousands of persons having pension rights arising from service with Trafalgar House group companies.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
conglomerate
Conglomerate (company)
A conglomerate is a combination of two or more corporations engaged in entirely different businesses that fall under one corporate structure , usually involving a parent company and several subsidiaries. Often, a conglomerate is a multi-industry company...
with interests in property investment
Property
Property is any physical or intangible entity that is owned by a person or jointly by a group of people or a legal entity like a corporation...
, property development, engineering
Engineering
Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...
, construction
Construction
In the fields of architecture and civil engineering, construction is a process that consists of the building or assembling of infrastructure. Far from being a single activity, large scale construction is a feat of human multitasking...
, shipping
Shipping
Shipping has multiple meanings. It can be a physical process of transporting commodities and merchandise goods and cargo, by land, air, and sea. It also can describe the movement of objects by ship.Land or "ground" shipping can be by train or by truck...
, hotel
Hotel
A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. The provision of basic accommodation, in times past, consisting only of a room with a bed, a cupboard, a small table and a washstand has largely been replaced by rooms with modern facilities, including en-suite bathrooms...
s, energy and publishing
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
. Founded in 1963, it was listed on the London Stock Exchange
London Stock Exchange
The London Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located in the City of London within the United Kingdom. , the Exchange had a market capitalisation of US$3.7495 trillion, making it the fourth-largest stock exchange in the world by this measurement...
and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index
FTSE 100 Index
The FTSE 100 Index, also called FTSE 100, FTSE, or, informally, the footsie , is a share index of the 100 most highly capitalised UK companies listed on the London Stock Exchange....
.
History
In 1959 a young Nigel BroackesNigel Broackes
Sir Nigel Broakes was the founder of Trafalgar House, one of the United Kingdom's largest contracting businesses.-Career:...
became managing director of a subsidiary company of Eastern International Investment Trust, which was quoted on the London Stock Exchange
London Stock Exchange
The London Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located in the City of London within the United Kingdom. , the Exchange had a market capitalisation of US$3.7495 trillion, making it the fourth-largest stock exchange in the world by this measurement...
. The subsidiary had then been in existence about two years, undertaking property development and investment. In 1962 it acquired a portfolio of properties from one of the backers of its commercial development arm, and adopted as its new company identity the name of one of them - namely 'Trafalgar House'. The following year the company offered its shares to the public.
In 1964 Broackes brought into the company Victor Matthews
Victor Matthews, Baron Matthews
Victor Collin Matthews, Baron Matthews of Southgate was Group Managing Director of Trafalgar House, one of the United Kingdom's largest contracting businesses as well as the proprietor of the Daily Express.-Career:...
, who was fourteen years his senior. Matthews became Broackes' principal lieutenant for the next eighteen years, until parting from him to take control of Express Newspapers
Express Newspapers
Northern & Shell is a British publishing and television group. The holding company name is "Northern and Shell Network Ltd". Launched and founded in December 1974 and currently owned by Richard Desmond, it publishes the Daily Express, Sunday Express, Daily Star and Daily Star Sunday, and the...
, which Trafalgar House had decided to spin off from the group. Nigel Broackes was knighted in 1984 for services to the development of the London docklands, and Victor Matthews was ennobled in 1980 (as Lord Matthews of Southgate) for unswerving support to the Conservative Party
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
.
In the course of thirty years or so, Trafalgar House became a formidable international industrial and commercial undertaking. During the final few years of its existence, it was consistently tabled as the largest contracting organisation in the UK and one of the largest in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
.
Divisions, operating areas, companies, and groups
A conglomerate by nature is usually a dynamic entity and fluid in its structure and content. For the purpose of this historical perspective a general indication only is given of the scope of industries, operations and companies embraced by Trafalgar House during its existence.- Housebuilding
- Building Contracting
- Civil Engineering Construction
- International Construction
- Specialist Engineering
- Structural Engineering
- South African Operations
- Property Investment & Development
- US Real Estate
- Cargo Shipping and Aviation
- Passenger Shipping
- Hotels and Resorts
- Oil and Gas Engineering
- Newspaper and Magazine Publishing
- Energy Technology
- Process Engineering
Companies or groups within Trafalgar House plc
- City and West End Properties
- Trafalgar House Developments
- Bridge Walker
- New Ideal Homes
- Broseley Estates LimitedBroseley Estates LimitedBroseley Estates Limited, also referred to as Broseley Homes, was formed by Danny Horrocks after an amalgamation of developers and was owned for most of its history by the insurance company Royal Exchange...
- Trollope & CollsTrollope & CollsTrollope & Colls was once one of the United Kingdom's largest construction companies.-History:The Company was formed out of the merger of George Trollope & Sons and Colls & Sons .The merged firm started to specialise in civil engineering and during World War...
- Cleveland Bridge & Engineering
- Cementation
- Redpath Dorman Long
- Cunard Steam Ship Co (Cargo)
- Cunard LineCunard LineCunard Line is a British-American owned shipping company based at Carnival House in Southampton, England and operated by Carnival UK. It has been a leading operator of passenger ships on the North Atlantic for over a century...
(Passenger)
- Cunard Hotels
- Cunard Resorts
- Eastern International Investment Trust
- John Brown Engineering
- The Ritz Hotel (LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
) - Clark & Fenn
- Willett
- Monk Construction
- Rashleigh Phipps
- Direct Spanish Telegraph
- Beaverbrook (Express) Newspapers
- Morgan & Grampian (Magazines)
- Young, Austen & Young
- Focus 21 Developments
- Frankipile
- Davy Corporation
Hotels
The Ritz Hotel in London, which was acquired by Trafalgar House in 1976, was sold to David and Frederick BarclayDavid and Frederick Barclay
Sir David Rowat Barclay and Sir Frederick Hugh Barclay are British businessmen. The identical twin brothers have very substantial business interests primarily in media, retail and property. The Sunday Times Rich List of 2007 estimated their wealth at £1.8 billion...
for £
Pound sterling
The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
75 million in 1995.
Property
In 1980 there was public outcry at the sudden destruction by Trafalgar House of the art deco main entrance to the former Firestone factory (Designed by Wallis, Gilbert and Partners, 1928–29) in west London, which had been torn down over the August bank holiday weekend in order to (legally) pre-empt and thus nullify an imminent preservation order under the listed buildings legislation. The company was due to embark on an extensive redevelopment of the large industrial site, which would have been seriously hampered by a requirement to maintain both the lengthy architectural facade of the old factory and its broad approach sightlines and boundary features.In 1988 Trafalgar House was involved in a joint development with British Aerospace
British Aerospace
British Aerospace plc was a UK aircraft, munitions and defence-systems manufacturer. Its head office was in the Warwick House in the Farnborough Aerospace Centre in Farnborough, Hampshire...
(BAe) to redevelop the former Royal Small Arms Factory
Royal Small Arms Factory
The Royal Small Arms Factory was a UK government-owned rifle factory in the London Borough of Enfield in an area generally known as the Lea Valley. The factory produced British military rifles, muskets and swords from 1816...
site at Enfield
Enfield Town
Enfield Town is the historic town centre of Enfield, formerly in the county of Middlesex and now in the London Borough of Enfield. It is north north-east of Charing Cross...
.
In 1995 it bought the bomb-damaged site of the historic Baltic Exchange
Baltic Exchange
The Baltic Exchange is the world's only independent source of maritime market information for the trading and settlement of physical and derivative contracts...
building, at 30 St Mary Axe
30 St Mary Axe
30 St Mary Axe, the Swiss Re Building , is a skyscraper in London's main financial district, the City of London, completed in December 2003 and opened at the end of May 2004...
in London, which had been severely damaged when the Provisional Irish Republican Army
Provisional Irish Republican Army
The Provisional Irish Republican Army is an Irish republican paramilitary organisation whose aim was to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and bring about a socialist republic within a united Ireland by force of arms and political persuasion...
detonated a bomb nearby on 10 April 1992. The building's former owner, the Baltic Exchange
Baltic Exchange
The Baltic Exchange is the world's only independent source of maritime market information for the trading and settlement of physical and derivative contracts...
, was unable to bear the costs of fully restoring the building to English Heritage
English Heritage
English Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...
's requirements and sold the site to Trafalgar House. In 1998 the site was resold, with planning permission
Planning permission
Planning permission or planning consent is the permission required in the United Kingdom in order to be allowed to build on land, or change the use of land or buildings. Within the UK the occupier of any land or building will need title to that land or building , but will also need "planning...
, for £81 million to Swiss Re
Swiss Re
Swiss Reinsurance Company Ltd , generally known as Swiss Re, is a Swiss reinsurance company. It is the world’s second-largest reinsurer, after having acquired GE Insurance Solutions. The company has its headquarters in Zurich...
, who commissioned and occupied the renowned Gherkin building, designed by Foster and Partners
Foster and Partners
Foster + Partners is an architectural firm based in London. The practice is led by its founder and Chairman, Norman Foster, and has constructed many high-profile glass-and-steel buildings....
.
Shipping
Trafalgar House acquired the Cunard group of shipping and leisure companies in 1971. Cunard operated cargo and passenger ships, hotels and resorts. At that time it had forty-two cargo ships in service, with fourteen more under construction; and three passenger ships, with two more under construction. But twelve years later the cargo fleet had shrunk to eighteen, half of which were by then container ships. The size of the passenger fleet had remained constant. In 1989 Trafalgar House withdrew Cunard from the cargo shipping industry and sold off all its freighters.Construction
For most of the company's existence the prime umbrella operating division, in terms of turnover and revenue, was Trafalgar House Construction - generally referred to both inside the company and within the industry as 'THC'. As the division grew in scope and stature it was responsible for more and more large and prestigious projects over an increasingly wide geographical area, until its scope became world-wide.Engineering
In 1986 Trafalgar House acquired John Brown Engineering Ltd., which built industrial gas turbineGas turbine
A gas turbine, also called a combustion turbine, is a type of internal combustion engine. It has an upstream rotating compressor coupled to a downstream turbine, and a combustion chamber in-between....
s and also implemented licensed processes, such as the Union Carbide Corporation Polyethylene Plant. The basic processes were engineered to fit the purchaser's requirements, including the site plan, the production capacity, the raw material feedstock, and other constraints. John Brown Engineering had been the engineering division of the shipbuilder
Shipbuilding
Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and floating vessels. It normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation that traces its roots to before recorded history.Shipbuilding and ship repairs, both...
John Brown & Company
John Brown & Company
John Brown and Company of Clydebank was a pre-eminent Scottish marine engineering and shipbuilding firm, responsible for building many notable and world-famous ships, such as the , the , the , the , the , and the...
of Clydebank
Clydebank
Clydebank is a town in West Dunbartonshire, in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. Situated on the north bank of the River Clyde, Clydebank borders Dumbarton, the town with which it was combined to form West Dunbartonshire, as well as the town of Milngavie in East Dunbartonshire, and the Yoker and...
.
In 1992 Trafalgar House acquired the Davy Corporation a group of international engineering companies which also included a well-established UK wide construction division. The acquisition was principally to secure Davy's engineering skills and operations but the construction arm was a bonus for Trafalgar House, who were able to widen their national coverage in that sector.
Decline and disposal
During the early 1990s Trafalgar House appeared to lose focus and losses began to accrue across various group activities. In 1991 The Financial Reporting Review Panel threatened to apply for a court order that would require Trafalgar to restate significant reductions in asset values through the reserves in order to avoid the profit and loss account, which eventually led to directors restating their 1992 accounts from a £112.5 million profit to a £30 million loss. At this time their far-east associates, Jardine Matheson, invested in Trafalgar House and took fifteen percent of the company: later increasing to twenty-five percent. The vehicle used for this investment was Jardine's property subsidiary Hong Kong Land. Jardines are controlled by the Keswick familyKeswick family
The Keswick family are a business dynasty of Scottish origin associated with the Far East since 1855 and in particular the conglomerate Jardine Matheson....
, a dynasty of Scottish origin. Simon Keswick
Simon Keswick
Simon Lindley Keswick is a Scottish businessman and the younger brother of Sir Chips Keswick and Sir Henry Keswick.He is a director of Matheson & Co Ltd , Fleming Mercantile Investment Trust, Hanson plc, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group plc. and the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group...
took the chair at Trafalgar House in 1994 but the company fortunes continued to slide, and on 15 December 1995 Keswick announced a further loss of £321 million. The aggregate loss over those few years was then approaching a billion pounds. Dividends were stopped and it was declared that they would not resume until sustainable profit had returned.
On 18 April 1996 Norwegian
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
shipbuilding and engineering group Kvaerner acquired Trafalgar House plc following a £904 million offer. The acquisition provided Kvaerner with a broad-based portfolio of companies with thirty-four thousand staff.
Pensions
Trafalgar House Trustees Ltd., along with its associated undertakings, manages pensionPension
In general, a pension is an arrangement to provide people with an income when they are no longer earning a regular income from employment. Pensions should not be confused with severance pay; the former is paid in regular installments, while the latter is paid in one lump sum.The terms retirement...
arrangements for the many thousands of persons having pension rights arising from service with Trafalgar House group companies.