- N Brown Group
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N Brown Group plc 
Type Public (LSE: BWNG) Industry Home shopping Founded 1859 Headquarters Manchester, England Key people Lord Alliance, Chairman
Alan White, CEORevenue £690.0 million (2010)[1] Operating income £97.6 million (2010)[1] Net income £62.5 million (2010)[1] Employees 3,189 (2010)[1] Subsidiaries See below Website www.nbrown.co.uk N Brown Group plc (LSE: BWNG) is a British business group and a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index based in Manchester, England. It trades as a home shopping retailer under several names, including JD Williams, Jacamo, SimplyBe and High and Mighty.
Contents
History
The oldest company within the group was founded by James David Williams in 1859 when he started in business operating three mobile shops.[2]
The company flourished, but the family connection was broken when the Williams family interests were bought out by Alliance Brothers Limited in 1963.[3] Other catalogue companies were purchased, and the holding company for these became N Brown Investments.
In 1970 the Company, then still called JD Williams, was wholly acquired by Sir David Alliance who reversed it into his property company N Brown Group plc.[4]
In a joint venture with Northern and Shell[5], owners of the Daily Express, on 21 October 2004, the company launched the Express Shopping Channel.[6] This closed in 2005.[7]
In 2007 the Company won the Manchester Evening News "Business Of The Year" title for businesses with a turnover exceeding £50m.[8]
Operations
The company focuses each of its brands on a section of the fashion-buying public traditionally ignored or poorly-served by the UK high street. The company's catalogues target women aged 30 and above, with a particular focus on those over 50, and usually those of a larger frame.
Current brands include Fashion World, Gray & Osbourn, House of Bath, Jacamo, Marisota, Oxendales, Simply Be, JD Williams, Williams & Brown and High & Mighty.
Subsidiaries
Current wholly owned subsidiaries are:-
- J D Williams & Co. Limited, Direct home shopping by catalogue, England
- Gray & Osbourn Limited, Direct home shopping by catalogue, England
- Oxendale & Co. Limited, Direct home shopping by catalogue, Republic of Ireland
- J D W Finance Limited, Financing and ancillary services, England
- First Financial Limited, Financial services, England
- N B Insurance Guernsey, Limited Insurance services, Guernsey
Ownership
Two of the major shareholders, Lord Alliance and Nigel Alliance, sit on the board.
Location
The business has its operational Head Office in Manchester's Northern Quarter and has warehousing and distribution centres in Shaw and Crompton, in Greater Manchester,[9] and Hadfield in Derbyshire.
Gray & Osbourn is based in London, House of Bath is based in Bath while Oxendales is based in Dublin, High and Mighty is based in Newbury.
The company has entered into long running contracts with BeCogent, an outsourced call centre in Airdrie, who handle orderline and customer service calls, and ResQ in Hull, who fulfill these roles as well as an outbound team that calls existing customers and offers a discount on catalogue prices if they choose to place an order with them.
References
- ^ a b c d Annual Report 2010
- ^ Manchester Celebrities
- ^ Company History
- ^ N Brown's outsize appeal Management Today, 1 September 1991
- ^ Northern and Shell
- ^ N Brown trials TV shopping again Red Orbit, 7 August 2006
- ^ Annual Report 2006 Page 14
- ^ Business of the Year Awards Manchester Evening News, 6 November 2007
- ^ N Brown: Fufilment Logistics/Shaw Operations Centre
External links
Categories:- Companies listed on the London Stock Exchange
- Retail companies of the United Kingdom
- Companies based in Manchester
- Companies established in 1859
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