Ada
Ada (Halifax) Ltd, maker of washing machines and spin driers, refrigerators and "Ajax" machine tools, of Halifax.
1950 Became public company. Ada (Halifax) Ltd was formed for the purpose of acquiring Ajax Machine Tool Co, including its wholly-owned subsidiary Ajax Domestic Appliance Co.[1], which was producing 24,000 washing machines/year.
1951 Developed new 5ft radial drilling machine; extended the factory
1960 Control of the company gained by Philips Electrical[2]
1961 Manufacturers of "Coronation" and "Ada-Matic" washing machines, "Ada" ironing and dishwashing machines, "Slendaline" refrigerators, and "Ajax" machine tools. 450 employees. [3]
1962 Announced intention to diversify; the 2 main businesses - domestic appliances and machine tools would be separated[4]
1963 Acquired R. W. Proffitt and its 7 subsidiaries, retailers and renters of radios and televisions and domestic appliances in Lancashire and Cheshire[5]
1966 Having sold the washing machine business to the parent company, and with the proceeds of a rights issue, acquired controlling interests in[6]:
- Belling and Lee, specialists in television aerials
- Luxram Electric, electric lamp merchants, from Philips Industries
- Kingston Lamp Co
- Acadex Engineering, maker of small electric motors
- Silcocks Brothers (Bristol), radio goods distributors
and a minority interest in:
- Viewsport, closed circuit television
1968 Philips merged its fragmented interest in television and electrical retailing into Ada (Halifax), which formed a new subsidiary for this area of business Retada[7]
1973 Philips acquired the remaining shares that it did not own[8]
1970 Ajax Machine Tool Co was moved to CEI Group