Quays+Group+PLC

=Quays Group PLC=

Company Number: SC000689 Date of Incorporation: 22 June 1876 Contact Details: KPMG, Saltire Court, 20 Castle Terrace. Edinburgh, EH1 2EG Operating Details: In Liquidation Other names (if known): The Cathcart Cemetery Company, Cathcart Holdings Limited, Alexander Holdings Limited (from 1910-2002) Function of Company*: Holding Companies including Head Offices (7415). Previously funeral service provider (9303) then motor vehicle dealership (5010) Headquarters/Base of Operations Location: Cathcart, Glasgow; later Edinburgh Area of Operation: Branches in Edinburgh, Northampton, Greenock, Kirkintilloch, Cumbernauld, Spalding, Stamford and Lincoln (see history for more details)


 * Taken from Standard Industrial Classification 2003, as used by Companies House in 2010

Records
Held By: Privately held, see contact address

Scope/type: Amended Articles of Association (1971, 1994, 1995), Memorandum of Association (amended, 1974); Share information (certificates, index of holders, register etc) 1965-2000; Annual Reports 1965-2000; various financial information 1985-2000

Conditions governing access/use: Contact above address. Items are due to be disposed of.

Related records: None found, although it may be that Cathcart Cemetery records are held at the Mitchell Library in Glasgow.

Company History
Cathcart Cemetery is one of the older cemeteries in Glasgow. This company appears to have been the Cathcart Cemetery company at its incorporation in 1876, though it later became Cathcart Holdings. This may reflect either a transfer of the cemetery to local council control (possibly as it filled and became less profitable), or that the cemetery became one of many businesses run by the parent company.

For whatever reason, in1910 the company, by then established as Alexanders holdings, became one of the first Ford dealerships in the UK, operating out of Edinburgh. The company was not only concerned with selling and leasing automobiles, as by 1935 it was also a notable tractor dealer in Edinburgh as well. The business expanded outside of Edinburgh, and in 1965 had branches (run as individual companies) in Kirkintilloch and Greenock, a garage facility in Broomielaw and described itself as Scotland’s largest Ford Main dealers.

Over the next two decades the company expanded by acquiring dealerships in Northampton, Spalding and Stamford (both to the North of Peterborough), Cumbernauld, Huddersfield and Lincoln (the latter both non-Ford dealerships). Throughout the 1970s the company re-developed its sites and portfolio, and even expanded into Holland. However in 1984 the tractor division in Edinburgh shut down, and the company began to struggle as Ford’s share of the British market contracted.

In 1994 Ford declined to renew its dealership agreement with Edinburgh, following a large recession. This led the group to begin to re-structure and sell-off its assets in order to maximise its profits. The contract rental division (a consistently profitable part of the business) was passed on in 1998 to Axius UK, and in 1999 the Edinburgh auto-centre was closed and Alexanders of Greenock (the last remaining branch) was sold on.

In 2000, Craigen Estates Overseas acquired nearly 30% of the shares, and appointed a new management team. After a review the company was repositioned as an investment company, and Alexanders was renamed the Quays group PLC. In 2002 this group became involved in acquiring property freeholds and leaseholds from Orb Estates PLC property (based in Poole in Dorset). In acquiring these property the Group became a subsidiary of Orb Developments, as the leaseholds were exchanged for shareholdings in the Quays Group. In 2003, following the collapse of a subsidiary (Poole Developments) connected to the cost overruns of the Dolphin Quays redevelopment, the company was placed into liquidation.

There is still an Alexanders site in Edinburgh, though it trades used cars rather than new Ford models. It appears to operate on the site of the old auto-centre.

With thanks and acknowledgement to Hunter Fraser at KPMG for his help with these records