of Copthall Court, London, EC2.
Food manufacturers and caterers, later precision and heavy engineers, and makers of paper and packaging.
1955 Under a scheme of reorganisation, John Jacks Ltd changed its name to Melbray Group which would be a holding company. A new company called John Jacks took over the snack bar and catering side of the previous business[1]
1957 Acquired Commercial X-Rays Ltd[2]
1959 Acquired a majority interest in R A Brand (Holdings); the 2 companies had the same chairman[3]
1960 Acquired production and distribution business Quartons (Holdings), which would complement Melbray's food business[4]
1961 The remainder of Brands was acquired[5]
1961 Incorporated R. G. Whitaker, maker of dry cleaning equipment, into the laundry equipment makers Manlove, Alliott and Co[6]
1962 Acquired British Watch Cases[7]
By the time of the 1962 report, the group also included:[8]
- British Rototherm Co
- Kenneth E. Beswick
- Melbray
- Quartons (Holdings)
1962 Acquired Knight and Forster, colour printers of Leeds, as well as an animal feed miller[9] and Thomas Preston, paper bag and carton manufacturer[10]
1963 Acquired Hayward's Food Products[11]
By the time of the 1963 report, Melbray also owned: [12]
1963 Acquired Thomas Robinson, Sons and Co, provision merchants of Hull[13] and Harry Peck and Co makers of paste, tongue and canned meat[14]
By 1964 also owned: [15]
By 1965 also owned Dobson and Crowther as well as many new subsidiaries formed from existing subsidiaries[16]
1967 Centralisation of the control of the businesses into 3 divisions - Preston-Brand for print and packaging, Melbray Foods and Melbray Engineering[17]. Disposed of some unprofitable food businesses; acquired Aviation Engineering and Maintenance[18]
1968 Acquired James Barnes, print and packaging[19]. Acquired Compressed Paper Packaging. Acquired Netonia and Tarbox and Walter Tarbox and Co, which were complementary to the existing watch cases business[20]
1969 Acquired D. and J. Tullis of Clydebank. [21]
1970 Sold Hayward-Peck and Melbray (pie and cooked meats) to Brooke Bond Oxo[22] in order to release funds for the engineering side of the business.
1971 Profits collapsed due to various reasons. Consolidated Sykes International[23]
1972 Acquired by Tremletts[24]
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ The Times Sep 07, 1955
- ↑ The Times, Nov 09, 1957
- ↑ The Times, May 07, 1959
- ↑ The Times, Aug 29, 1960
- ↑ The Times Feb 28, 1961
- ↑ The Times (London, England), Tuesday, Nov 14, 1961
- ↑ The Times Mar 30, 1962
- ↑ The Times, Aug 01, 1962
- ↑ The Times , Oct 09, 1962
- ↑ The Times Oct 19, 1962
- ↑ The Times May 09, 1963
- ↑ The Times, Jul 31, 1963
- ↑ The Times, Oct 16, 1963
- ↑ The Times, Nov 04, 1963
- ↑ The Times, Jul 24, 1964
- ↑ The Times, Jul 30, 1965
- ↑ The Times Jul 04, 1967
- ↑ The Times, Nov 30, 1967
- ↑ The Times, Apr 03, 1968
- ↑ The Times Dec 18, 1968
- ↑ The Times, Jun 12, 1969
- ↑ The Times, Apr 11, 1970
- ↑ The Times Jul 31, 1971
- ↑ The Times, May 25, 1972