British Electric Traction Company Limited,renamedBET plcin 1985, was a large British industrialconglomerate.It was once a constituent of theFTSE 100 Indexbut was acquired by Rentokil in 1996, and the merged company is now known asRentokil Initial.
 | |
| Company type | Public |
|---|---|
| Industry | Conglomerate |
| Founded | 1895 |
| Defunct | 1996 |
| Fate | Acquired |
| Successor | Rentokil Initial |
| Headquarters | London,UK |
| Products | Transport services Television services Laundry services |
History
editEarly history
editTramway services
edit
The company was founded in 1895 as British Electric Traction Company Ltd,[1]with SirCharles Rivers Wilsonas chairman andEmile Garckeas managing director. It was involved in the electrification of tramways in British towns and cities,[1]and also inAustraliaandNew Zealand,for example inAuckland.[2]From operating trams, BET moved on to manufacturing them with the purchase ofBrush Electrical Engineering Companyin 1901.
The BET became the largest of the private owners of tramways in the British Isles. During its history, it gained control in England of the Metropolitan Electric and South Metropolitan systems in London, as well as systems in Barnsley, Barrow-in-Furness, Birmingham, Birmingham and Midland, Brighton and Shoreham, Cambridge, Devonport and District, Dewsbury Ossett and Soothill Nether, Dudley and Stourbridge, Gateshead, Gravesend, Great Yarmouth, Hartlepool, Jarrow, Kidderminster and Stourport, Leamington and Warwick, Mexborough and Swinton, Middleton, Oldham Ashton and Hyde, Peterborough, Poole, the Potteries, Rossendale Valley, Sheerness, South Staffordshire, Southport, South Shields, Taunton, Tynemouth, Weston-Super-Mare, Wolverhampton District, Worcester, and Yorkshire (Woollen District).
In Wales
- Merthyr Tydfil Electric Tramways
- Swansea
- Swansea and Mumbles Railway
- Wrexham and District Electric Tramways
In Scotland
- Airdrie and Coatbridge Tramways
- Greenock and Port Glasgow
- Rothesay and Ettrick Bay Light Railway
In Northern Ireland
The last BET tram ran on 4 August 1951, when theGateshead and District Tramways Companyreplaced its trams with buses.[3]
Motor bus services
editIn 1905 a subsidiary was formed to operate motor buses, which became increasingly important to the group as many municipalities were compulsorily acquiring company-owned tram networks in their areas.
Post war
editNationalisation of BET's electricity generation and distribution activities took place in 1947[1]leaving BET with a portfolio of bus companies, a number of miscellaneous investments, and a cash pile. The company embarked on a programme of acquisitions, with particular emphases on transport, leisure and entertainment, printing and publishing, construction and plant hire, textile maintenance and waste management.
Products and operations
editTransport
editFrom 1949 until 1967 BET continued to be one of the two major bus groups in the UK, alongside the state-ownedTilling Group(owned by theBritish Transport Commissionand from 1963 by theTransport Holding Company).
In 1956 BET acquired a 20% interest in United Transport Company,[1]the rump of the oldRed & Whitecompany, increased to 100% in 1971. United Transport continued with its freight road haulage business (Bulwark Transport), and also moved into shipping, particularlycontainersand tank containers.
TheBritish Transport Commission(and later theTransport Holding Company) held minority interests in many of BET's UK bus subsidiaries, and in late 1967 BET sold its UK bus interests to theTransport Holding Company,to become part of theNational Bus Company.
United Transport had passenger transport and freight interests in southern Africa. BET owned and operatedJamaica Omnibus Service,a 600-bus operation in Kingston, Jamaica, until it was nationalised by the Jamaican Government in 1974.
In January 1987 BET briefly reentered the UK bus market, when United Transport formed theBee Line Buzz Companyto operate minibus services in theManchesterarea, and started a similar operation inPrestoncalled Zippy. The company was headquartered in Didcot, South Oxfordshire. However, in 1988 United sold Bee Line and Zippy toRibble Motor Services(coincidentally once owned by BET).[4][5]
Leisure and entertainment
editIn 1947 BET acquired a substantial minority interest in Broadcast Relay Service Ltd, trading asRediffusion,which distributed radio and television signals though wired relay networks.[1]BET acquired a controlling interest in 1967, and the remaining 36% in 1983.
WhenITVcommercial television started in the UK in 1955, Rediffusion formedAssociated-RediffusionwithAssociated Newspaperswith BET's financial backing, and won the London weekday broadcast franchise.
In the beginning, Associated Rediffusion lost money. By the end of 1956 Associated Newspapers sold 80% of its stake back to BET and Rediffusion at a severe loss. Around that same time, Associated Rediffusion struck a very favourable deal withGranada Television,the franchise holder for weekday broadcasts in the North of England. Granada was also losing money, and lacked the financial resources of BET; the deal guaranteed Granada a certain level of financial security, at the cost of Associated-Rediffusion receiving the vast majority of future profits from their arrangement.
By 1964, when Associated Rediffusion changed its name to Rediffusion London, its efforts had left it sitting on a mountain of cash. But in 1967 theIndependent Television Authorityordered Rediffusion London to enter into a joint arrangement withABC Weekend TV,the holder of the weekendMidlandsand North of England franchises, to formThames Television.As a result of this re-allocation of interests, ABC took a controlling 51% interest in Thames Television, although the profits were split 50/50 between ABC and Rediffusion.[1]Thames Television was given the new weekday London franchise. BET sold its interest in Thames Television in 1985.
Between 1955 and 1968 BET made other acquisitions in the leisure sector, including a controlling interest inWembley StadiumLtd, which was sold in 1985.
Printing and publishing
editBET acquired theArgus Pressgroup in 1966.[1]
Construction and plant hire
editBET acquired Eddison Plant Ltd in 1949,[1]and expanded into construction after the sale of its bus interests in 1968. It acquiredBoulton & Paul Ltdand Grayston Ltd.[1]Murphy Bros. Limited with interests in civil engineering, opencast coal mining, building materials production and plant hire was acquired in 1968.[6] BET acquired Shifnal, Shropshire based Wrekin Construction Company Limited in 1972 and divested the business to its founder Tom Frain in 1983 for £3 million.[7]
In 1985 BET acquired the crane company G W Sparrow & Sons plc,[8]and combined its craneage interests into a new subsidiary, Grayston White and Sparrow.
Laundry and linen rental
editBET entered the laundry business in 1934, and in 1935 acquired an interest in Advance Linen Services, which became a subsidiary in 1955.[9]
In 1950 BET took a 10% interest in Initial.[1]The stake was gradually increased until 1985, when BET took over Initial.
Waste management
editIn 1971 BET acquiredBiffa,and also acquired Re-Chem International, which specialised in toxic industrial waste processing.
Divestment and sale
editIn the 1980s conglomerates such as BET fell out of favour, and BET extracted itself from some business sectors. Its interests inThames Televisionwere sold in 1985, and the rest of Rediffusion soon followed. BET sold its 75 per cent shareholding inHumphries HoldingsPLC toLee InternationalPLC for £2.5 million in 1985.Rediffusion Simulationwas sold in 1988 toHughes Aircraft.In 1991 Biffa was sold toSevern Trent Waterplc.[10]BET also sold its construction interests.
BET retained the profitable laundry and linen rental businesses, and also the shipping businesses of United Transport.
In 1996 BET was acquired by the much smallerRentokil,after a hostile take-over bid.[11]The merged company was named Rentokil Initial.[12]
References
edit- ^abcdefghij"Competition Commission Report, 1985, Page 13"(PDF).Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 25 October 2007.Retrieved2 March2008.
- ^Cyclopedia of New Zealand (1901): The Auckland Electric Tramways Company
- ^Stewart J Brown,NBC Antecedents and Formation,Shepperton, 1983
- ^Stuart Valentine: East of the M60
- ^Roberts, C. (2003)Analysis of the effects of ownership change on the British bus industry since 1986Archived16 July 2011 at theWayback Machinepara 4.5
- ^"History".Charles Street Buildings Group.Retrieved1 May2020.
- ^Highway and Public Works.1983. p. 10.
- ^Competition Commission Report, 1986, Page 16Archived25 October 2007 at theWayback Machine
- ^"Competition Commission Report, 1985, Page 14"(PDF).Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 25 October 2007.Retrieved2 March2008.
- ^"Severn Trent History".Archived fromthe originalon 18 September 2012.Retrieved16 November2008.
- ^Rumours of Rentokil bid boost BETThe Independent,15 February 1996
- ^Rentokil Initial: History