Fairey Aviation Company - The Collapse of The Fairey Group

The Collapse of The Fairey Group

In 1977 the Fairey Group went into receivership and was effectively nationalised by the Government. Fairey went into liquidation when it introduced a Britten-Norman Islander production line into its subsidiary company, Avions Fairey and overproduced the plane and subsequently faced redundancy payments of about £16 million in Belgium. The companies involved were as follows:-

• Fairey Hydraulics Ltd, Heston, Hydraulic power controls and filters for aircraft; – Sold in 1999 to a management buyout, name changed to Claverham Ltd, bought in 2001 by Hamilton Standard.
• Fairey Engineering Ltd, Stockport, General and nuclear engineering;
• Fairey Nuclear Ltd, Heston, Nuclear components and light engineering;see also Dungeness nuclear power station
• Fairey Industrial Products Ltd, Heston, Management company;
• Fairey Filtration Ltd, Heston, Industrial filters;
• Fairey Winches Ltd, Tavistock, Vehicle overdrives, winches and hubs;
• Jerguson Tress Gauge and Valve Co Ltd, Newcastle, Liquid Level indicators;
• The Tress Engineering Co Ltd, Newcastle, Petrochemical valves;
• Fairey Marine Holdings Ltd, Hamble, Management company;
• Fairey Marine (East Cowes) Ltd, East Cowes, Ship and boat building;
• Fairey Exhibitions Ltd, Hamble, Exhibition stand contractors;
• Fairey Marine Ltd, Hamble, Boat building and repair;
• Fairey Yacht Harbours Ltd, Hamble, Boat handling, berthing and storage;
• Fairey Surveys Ltd, Maidenhead, Aerial and geophysical survey and mapping;
• Fairey Surveys (Scotland) Ltd, Livingston, Aerial and geophysical survey and mapping;
• Fairey Developments Ltd, Heston, Management company:

The Fairey Britten-Norman Aircraft Company was taken over by Pilatus then a subsidiary of the Oerlikon group in Switzerland.

The rescue action was taken by the Government under section 8 of the Industry Act 1972 acquiring from the official receiver of the Fairey Company Ltd the entire share capital for £201,163,000. The companies were managed by the National Enterprise Board (NEB). In 1980 The Fairey Group was purchased by Doulton & Company Limited (part of S Pearson & Son) from the NEB. At time, Pearson's interests in manufacturing were concentrated in the Doulton fine china business. The engineering interests were strengthened in 1980 by the acquisition of the high technology businesses of Fairey, and their merging with Pearson's other engineering interests in 1982. However, these businesses were disposed of in 1986 as part of Pearson wishing to concentrate on core activities; acquired by Williams Holdings they became Williams Fairey Engineering Ltd.

Other parts of the combined Fairey – Doulton group saw a management buy-out from Pearson, listing on the London Stock Exchange in 1988. During the 1990s this company concentrated on expanding its electronics business, acquiring a number of companies and disposing of the electrical insulator and hydraulic actuator businesses. In 1997, the company acquired Burnfield, of which Malvern Instruments was the most significant company. Servomex plc was acquired in 1999. In July 2000, the acquisition of the four instrumentation and controls businesses of Spectris AG of Germany for £171m was the largest ever made by the company and marked an important strategic addition to the company’s instrumentation and controls business. The reshaping of the group was marked with the change of name from Fairey Group to Spectris plc in May 2001.