Bellway

History

The company was founded in 1946 by John Thomas Bell and his sons, John and Russell, as a housebuilder operating in Newcastle upon Tyne under the name John T. Bell & Sons. In 1951, Kenneth Bell, the youngest of the brothers, joined the business. The three brothers also developed commercial property in the 1950s and their company, North British Properties, was floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1961. Two years later, North British acquired John T Bell via a reverse takeover.

The Bell family managed to tap into the huge demand for private housing that followed the Second World War by promoting developments, such as Cramlington New Town, that were built in partnership with William Leech in the early 1960s. Bellway developed a substantial housebuilding operation in the north of England and sales reached 1,500 units in 1972 with a further 500 in the newly formed Australian and French subsidiaries. In 1973, Bellway moved into the south-east with the purchase of A & R A Searle. The group continued to expand through the UK throughout the 1970s, however, its overseas operations proved to be less successful and were eventually closed.

In 1979, the "Bellway" private housebuilding business was demerged from the commercial side of the firm under the leadership of Kenneth Bell. During 1981, Bellway and fellow Newcastle housebuilder William Leech announced their intention to merge, however, the move was called off days later, allegedly on account of to incompatibilities between the lifestyles of the two firms. Diversification had not been wholly satisfactory; Ken Bell became largely non-executive and the day-to-day running of the business was assumed by Howard Dawe. Dawe reorganised the business, resumed the regional expansion on a more profitable basis and increased the company's focus on regeneration sites.

During March 1990, Bellway opted to sell its plant hire subsidiary Blackett UK to Bruce Cook. Later that same year, it recorded a profit of £11.11 million, a 34.7 per cent drop over the previous year; Kenneth Bell, the company's chairman, spoke out against the prospect of newly-privatised electricity suppliers increasing the connection charges to new properties. In March 1991, the firm launched a £25 million rights issue, however, shareholders only took up 52.3 per cent of the shares in Bellway on offer. Nevertheless, the company had ample fiscal reserves throughout the early 1990s in spite of a recession.

During 1996, Bellway Homes marked its 50th anniversary; that same year, it announced favourable sale figures, in terms of both volume and price. One year later, Kenneth Bell died, ending the family's involvement with the company; Howard Dawe was quickly appointed as Bellway's acting chairman. That same year, the firm recorded an above-expectation profit of £50.3 million, a rise of 56 per cent over the previous year; unit sales has also risen by 18 per cent to 5,002 homes. Profits would continue to grow in the following year, a trend that was partially attributed to sustained rises property values and low interest rates.