Pentos

This article is about the company. For pentobarbiturates, see pentobarbital. For the fictional city, see Pentos (A Song of Ice and Fire).

Pentos plc was a British holding company that operated between 1972 and 1995 and was best known for its ownership of the Dillons, Ryman and Athena retail brands.[1]

Pentos was established from a shell company by Terry Maher in January 1972 as a vehicle for his investment in the publisher Marshall, Morgan & Scott and the joinery company Austin Hall Group.[2] By May 1972 Pentos had acquired a listing on the London Stock Exchange through its reverse takeover of the listed Cape Town & District Gas, Light & Coke company.[3]

Pentos entered the retail trade through its purchase of the Birmingham-based Hudsons Bookshops chain by its subsidiary Marshall, Morgan & Scott in 1972.[4] It bought Dillon's University Bookshop in London in 1977,[5] and the Dublin-based Hodges Figgis bookshop in 1978.[6]

Pentos' shares were suspended and the company went into receivership on 1 March 1995.[1]

  1. ^ a b "Last chapter for Pentos Buyer likely for Dillons". Glasgow Herald. 2 March 1995. Retrieved 17 October 2021.
  2. ^ Maher 1994, pp. 1–3.
  3. ^ Maher 1994, pp. 20–23.
  4. ^ "Marshall, Morgan acquire bookshops". The Times. 19 April 1972. p. 24. Retrieved 18 October 2021.
  5. ^ "Dillon's bookshop taken in Pentos stable for £650,000". The Times. 19 July 1977. p. 24. Retrieved 18 October 2021.
  6. ^ Falvey, Deirdre (21 April 2018). "Hodges Figgis: A 250-year-old story of selling books". Irish Times. Retrieved 18 October 2021.