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Registration number: 21928

Company name: House of Fraser Ltd
Dates in business: 2006-

Earlier name: Company name: House of Fraser plc
Dates in business: 1982-2006

Earlier name: Company name: House of Fraser Ltd
Dates in business: 1941-1982

Type of business: department store retailers

Type of company: Private limited liability company 1941-1948

Type of company: Public limited liability company 1948-2006

Type of company: Private limited liability company 2006-

• Glasgow, Scotland

Management of company

Company history

By late 1941, Fraser, Sons & Co Ltd, drapers, of Glasgow, had acquired five retail businesses and the chairman of the company, Hugh Fraser, decided to form a new company as a vehicle for future acquisitions. This new private company, called House of Fraser Ltd, was incorporated on 11 December 1941. The company did not, however, commence business until 1946. In December 1947, Fraser, Sons & Co Ltd was liquidated and its assets and the assets of all its associated companies were transferred to House of Fraser Ltd. On 29 December, House of Fraser Ltd became a public company.

In May 1948, the company made its first acquisitions since going public, when it purchased wholesale clothiers, Brown Smith & Co, and gentlemen's outfitters, McLaren & Son (Glasgow Ltd). D Hourston & Sons of Ayr was acquired in May 1949. House of Fraser Ltd now comprised sixteen different Scottish branches. In 1951, it took over the Glasgow firm of McDonalds Ltd. McDonalds' branch, E J Clarke, of Harrogate, Yorkshire, provided the company with its first outlet in England. In March 1952, House of Fraser acquired two more Glasgow drapery stores, Duncan's Ltd and Wood & Selby Ltd. In the same year, it acquired the Scottish Drapery Corporation Ltd, a management holding company, of Edinburgh, which comprised a number of prestigious stores in Scotland, and in 1953, it acquired the department stores of Binns Ltd of Sunderland, England. This was followed by the acquisitions, in 1955, of Forresters (Outfitters) Ltd of Glasgow and the Aberdeen drapery firms of Isaac Benzie Ltd and Watt & Milne Ltd and the acquisitions of two Glasgow menswear shops, John Kirsop & Son Ltd, in 1956, and Carswell (The Modern Man's Shop) Ltd, in 1957.

Hugh Fraser, the chairman, appreciated that a store's major assets lay in stock and goodwill. He therefore sold the sites of many of his new acquisitions to insurance companies and leased them back for long terms at advantageous rates. This process released capital for the purchase of new premises and the modernisation of existing stores. In 1957, John Barker & Co Ltd of Kensington, London, and its subsidiaries, Derry & Toms and Ponting Brothers of Kensington, and Gosling & Sons Ltd of Richmond, were acquired. Further acquisitions in 1957 were Wylie & Lochhead Ltd, Arthur & Co Ltd and Benzie & Miller Ltd. In 1959, Harrods Stores Ltd of London, also joined the company. Hugh Fraser continued to expand the company until his death in 1966.

Sir Hugh Fraser, who succeeded his father as chairman, initiated a period of consolidation before resuming the policy of acquisitions in 1969 with the takeover of Guy & Smith Ltd of Grimsby, J J Allen Ltd of Bournemouth and Robertson, Ledlie, Ferguson & Co Ltd, which had stores in Dublin, Ireland, and Belfast, Northern Ireland. The 1970s witnessed the acquisition of T Baird & Sons Ltd of Wishaw, Alexander Henderson Ltd, Switzer & Co Ltd of Dublin, E. Dingle & Co Ltd of Plymouth, Hammonds Ltd of Hull, Chiesmans Ltd of Lewisham, London, Hide & Co Ltd of Kingston-upon-Thames, London, Army & Navy Stores Ltd of London, James Howell & Co Ltd, Brown, Muff & Co Ltd, David Evans & Co of Swansea, Taylors of Basildon, Mawer & Collingham Ltd of Lincoln and A C Illum of Copenhagen. During this decade around sixty stores joined the group. New own label products, known as the Allander brand, ranging from hosiery to furniture, were also introduced. In January 1975, the original Frasers store in Buchanan Street, Glasgow was closed and the business amalgamated with the newly revamped McDonalds and Wylie & Lochhead store across the street, which was renamed Frasers.

The early 1980s were difficult years. The economic recession and fierce competition in the High Street were compounded by repeated attempts by Lonrho plc, the international trading company, to intervene in the running of the company's affairs. A takeover bid by Lonrho plc was referred to the UK Monopolies & Mergers Commission and declared to be contrary to the public interest. The growth of House of Fraser Ltd continued, however, with the opening of four new branch stores between 1980 and 1984. These were D H Evans in Wood Green, North London, in 1980, Dickins & Jones in Milton Keynes, in 1981, Frasers in Perth in April 1984 and Army & Navy in Epsom, Surrey, in May 1984. In March 1982, in compliance with new company law, House of Fraser Ltd became House of Fraser plc.

In 1987, the company opened new House of Fraser stores in Kensington, London, and at the Metro Centre in Gateshead, Tyne & Wear, England. House of Fraser plc had also strengthened its involvement in areas other than department store and fashion retailing with the growth of Astral Sports & Leisure Ltd, the launch of YOU cosmetics and jewellery shops and the purchase, in 1985, of Turnbull & Asser Holdings Ltd, shirt makers of Jermyn Street, London, and Kurt Geiger Holdings Ltd, shoe retailers, of London.

Trading developments during the 1980s had included the introduction of Lifestyle merchandise ranges to attract younger customers and a huge investment in store refurbishment nationwide. In the last quarter of 1983 the Frasercard, valid at all stores and administered from the House of Fraser central computing facility in Swindon, Wiltshire, England, was introduced to replace existing divisional charge accounts.

New technology was also employed to improve point of sale service by the installation of an integrated system of electronic terminals. In the summer of 1985, Fraser Financial Services was launched to provide, in conjunction with TSB Bank plc, a complete in store home purchase, insurance and investment service.

In March 1985, House of Fraser plc was purchased by the Al Fayed family. The Al Fayeds owned important international shipping, oil, banking, and property businesses and supported the continuing expansion of the company and the introduction of a new corporate identity. In 1985, the company's stag's head logo was replaced by a stag leaping from a triangle and the names of many stores were changed to House of Fraser in order to create a national identity for the group. Many larger stores were refurbished and smaller or outdated shops were closed. The company's registered office remained in Buchanan Street, Glasgow, although many of the directors operated from the London office in Victoria.

In 1988, a five year strategic business plan was announced which saw a further rationalisation of the property portfolio. Small shops were to be relinquished and replaced with larger units.

In September 1990, two new department stores were opened, one in the Meadowhall Shopping Centre, Sheffield, England, and the other one in Leeds, England. In 1991, a new House of Fraser store was opened in Thurrock, Essex, England.

In April 1994, the company was floated as a public company on the London Stock Exchange. In November 2006, the company became a private limited company, called House of Fraser Ltd.

Access points: Department stores - Holding companies - Retail trade