British Domestic Appliances
1966 AEI and EMI formed British Domestic Appliances to bring together their Hotpoint, Morphy-Richards, Astral and Gala products[1].
1968 GEC and EMI merged their domestic appliance businesses, British Domestic Appliances and GEC (Domestic Equipment) producing the largest refrigerator maker in the UK and major share in washing machines, cookers and small electrical appliances[2], which was then called British Domestic Appliances.
1973 GEC acquired EMI's share of British Domestic Appliances[3].
1974 GEC acquired Schreiber and merged it with British Domestic Appliances[4]; Schreiber shareholders retained 37.5% with a view to eventual flotation.
1989 Hotpoint, as a subsidiary of GEC, was merged into a new division of GEC, General Domestic Appliances (GDA).
1989 GEC's domestic appliance businesses included the Hotpoint range of washing machines, driers and refrigerators; Creda electric cookers, heaters and other domestic appliances; Cannon gas cookers and fires; Redring electric kettles; showers; Xpelair extractor fans, and OSRAM-GEC lamps and lighting (which was owned 51 per cent by GEC and 49 per cent by Osram GmbH, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Siemens).
Other than OSRAM-GEC, these businesses were combined with GE's European consumer business in a jointly-owned European consumer group