Grace's Guide
British Industrial History
Grace's Guide is the leading source of historical information on industry and manufacturing in Britain. This web publication contains 148,487 pages of information and 233,925 images on early companies, their products and the people who designed and built them.
Valor Co
From Graces Guide
of Valor Works, Bromford, Erdington, Birmingham. Telephone: ERDington 1691. Telegraphic Address: "Valour, Birmingham". Also at Victoria Street, London, SW1. (1937)
1890 Valor company was founded, when a Birmingham-based manufacturer began selling oil storage containers. [1], principally for the Anglo-American Oil Co.
1897 Company incorporated[2]
1902 The production of oil heaters began. Used to warm draughty Victorian homes, this marked the birth of the first Valor heaters. The business later expanded its product range to include paraffin heaters.
1917 Advert for Oil Cabinets, Waste Oil Filters and Fire Extinguishers. Of Oil Cabinet and Filter Works, Aston Cross. [3]
1919 Advert for Oil Cabinets, Waste Oil Filters and Fire Extinguishers. Of Oil Cabinet and Filter Works, Aston Cross. [4]
1927 Anglo-American Oil Co owned the company[5] which made Valor Perfection Oil Cookers and Heaters which had led to increased sales of Anglo-American's oil products.
1936 Public company: Rolav Co was formed to carry on the business of manufacture of oil heaters, etc, and to enter into agreements with Valor Co Ltd and others[6]
1936 Public company: The Valor Company Ltd was floated on the London Stock Exchange [7] when its American parent was obliged to dispose of it to comply with new anti-trust laws in the United States.
1937 British Industries Fair Adverts for 'Valor' Fire Extinguishers. Also Oil Stoves and Heaters. Valor Oil Cooking, Heating and Boiling Stoves, Ovens, Oil Cabinets, Drums, Filters and Measures, Oil Storage Equipment, Steel Equipment for offices and works. (Building, General Heating and Cooking Section - Stand Nos. B.425 and B.324) [8]
1937 Storage equipment for lubricating oils. "Valor" Fire Extinguishers, Oil Filters and Steel Equipment for Offices and Works. [9]
1938 Aston Brass Co continued to be a satisfactory part of the business; its products were appreciated by the heating and plumbing trades[10]
WWII. 1939, The War Effort: Valor played a part in the War, extending product ranges to include ammunition boxes and fuel cans.
By the early 1960s Valor was heavily dependent upon the manufacture and supply of paraffin heaters. A collapse of this market left the company in severe financial difficulty. To reduce its reliance on its traditional base, it made a number of acquisitions.[11]
1961 Manufacturers of oil heaters, boiling stoves and other oil consuming devices, oil filters, measures, transport cans and furniture, fire extinguishers, sanitary and engineers' brassware and hot brass pressings. 974 employees. [12]. The market for paraffin heaters collapsed, leaving the company in severe financial difficulty.
1962 Acquired Gatehill-Beco, maker of electrical equipment and garden furniture as part of a diversification policy[13]
Having reviewed the future prospects for paraffin heating in the light of the increasing use of North Sea gas, Valor entered the market for gas-fired space heaters.
1966 The First Valor Gas Heaters: Valor developed new products to meet rising expectations for better standards of living. The Valor 75 gas heater was quickly supplemented with the introduction of the Inca - the first wall mounted gas radiator.
c.1966 Launched a lawn mower product[14]
1968 To concentrate better on the gas heater, lawn mower and car components businesses, Valor sold its stake in Valor Plastics to Ideal-Standard of Hull[15]; the business sold included Valor's cisterns, bathroom and soil pipe businesses[16]
1968 The lawn mower business was closed; the stocks were sold to Qualcast[17]
1972 Built a new factory to produce gas cookers, a new business for Valor[18]
1973 Acquired Newhome-Veritas; share issue to pay for it[19]
1979 First 'living flame' gas flame fire - Valorflame - developed by Valor Quickly followed by their first LPG coal effect portable heater – Fyrglo, and the first compact portable LPG heater in the British market – Valorheat.
1984 Valor continued to diversify by acquiring companies with well-known brand names and a significant position in the markets in which they operated
1987 As part of this strategy it acquired the locks and security business Yale and Nutone of the United States, from First City Diversified[20]; Yale specialised in locks and door closures, Nutone in installed electrical products for the home. This trebled the size of the business in terms of turnover and profits. Name changed to Yale and Valor.[21]
Yale and Valor's gas-fired space heater business was based in Birmingham, operated under the Valor brand name. Its products included the Homeflame gas fire, the Venetian open basket fire which provided live flames and a controllable heat output, and the Nevada wall-hung units.
1988 Acquired Ingersoll Locks of Woking.[22]
1988 Bought Elsy and Gibbons, makers of water heaters, from BICC.[23]
1991 Yale and Valor was acquired by Williams Holdings.[24]
1996 Management buyout of a group of 15 building products companies from Williams including Valor to form Newmond; Williams retained an interest in the business[25]
2002 New purpose built factory and office site for Valor Fires opened in January.
See Also
- Monopolies and Mergers Commission report [2]
Sources of Information
- ↑ [1] Valor Website
- ↑ The Times, Feb 14, 1936
- ↑ Mechanical World Year Book 1917. Published by Emmott and Co of Manchester. Advert p213
- ↑ Mechanical World Year Book 1919. Published by Emmott and Co of Manchester. Advert p246
- ↑ The Times Jul 19, 1927
- ↑ The Times (London, England), Wednesday, Feb 05, 1936
- ↑ The Times, Feb 14, 1936
- ↑ 1937 British Industries Fair Adverts pp520 and 545; and p428
- ↑ 1937 The Aeroplane Directory of the Aviation and Allied Industries
- ↑ The Times, Apr 05, 1938
- ↑ MMC report 1989
- ↑ 1961 Dun and Bradstreet KBE
- ↑ The Times, Jul 25, 1969
- ↑ The Times, Apr 19, 1969
- ↑ The Times, Mar 09, 1968
- ↑ The Times, Mar 11, 1968
- ↑ The Times, Apr 19, 1969
- ↑ The Times, Nov 21, 1972
- ↑ The Times Apr 19, 1973
- ↑ The Times, June 02, 1987
- ↑ The Times, July 18, 1988
- ↑ The Times, April 26, 1988
- ↑ The Times , November 03, 1988
- ↑ The Times March 05, 1991
- ↑ The Times Dec. 5, 1996