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| Company type | Public limited company |
|---|---|
| Industry | Property, engineering, construction, shipping, hotels, energy and publishing |
| Founded | 1963 |
| Defunct | 1996 |
| Fate | Acquired |
| Successor | Kvaerner |
| Headquarters | London, England |
Key people | Sir Nigel Broackes (Chairman) |
Trafalgar House was a British conglomerate with interests in property investment, property development, engineering, construction, shipping, hotels, energy and publishing. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. During its later years of operation, it was routinely referred to as being the largest contracting organisation in the UK.[1]
The entrepreneur Nigel Broackes, who would be the chairman of Trafalgar House throughout much of its existence, played a key role in the company's emergence during the late 1950s and early 1960s. Broackes worked with the Eastern International Investment Trust and Commercial Union to build a portfolio of assets that would be the initial footings of the company. Shortly after its floatation during 1963, Trafalgar House leveraged the issuing of shares to fuel its acquisition of various other businesses, which included The Cementation Company, John Brown Engineering, Cleveland Bridge, Redpath Dorman Long, Ideal Homes, Comben Homes, Broseley Homes, Cunard, British Rail Engineering Limited, and Express Newspapers.
Trafalgar's growth strategy consisted of direct investments and acquisitions continued throughout the 1970s and 1980s. However, its decision to continue making heavy investments on the runup to the early 1990s recession, alongside fiscal reporting issues identified by the Financial Reporting Review Panel, led to the company's accounts for 1992 being restated from a £112.5 million profit to a £30 million loss along with a £347 million loss being recorded in 1993. Broackes stepped down as Trafalgar's chairman and Jardine Matheson purchased a 25 percent stake in the company, leading to Simon Keswick becoming chairman. Trafalgar's fiscal performance remained unsatisfactory throughout the mid-1990s. The Norwegian shipbuilding and engineering group Kværner acquired Trafalgar House on 18 April 1996. In the following years, Kværner divested many of the ex-Trafalgar subsidiaries.