William Low

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William Low plc
Fate	Takeover
Successor	Initially rebranded as Tesco Scotland, then again to be Tesco
Founded	1868
Defunct	2 September 1994
Location	Dundee, Scotland, UK
Industry	Retail
Products	Groceries
Key people	Chairman - James Millar C.E.O - P.R Spicer Company Secetary - H.L Findlay
Peak size	8981 employees

William Low (known informally as Willie Low's,^[1] latterly marketed as Wm Low) was a chain of supermarkets based in Dundee, in Scotland. As a supermarket it was smaller than most of its competitors and often served small towns. However it still had several large stores, including two substantial shops in Dundee at the time of its demise - all of which were bought by Tesco. Most towns near Dundee had at least one large William Low store. It had shops throughout Scotland and North East England before it was bought out. It was ultimately taken over by Tesco for £257m in 1994; they had launched the first takeover bid but then had to compete with a rival takeover bid from competitor Sainsbury's. Tesco converted 57 of the William Low stores to their own and in so doing expanded their Scottish network of supermarkets considerably (as at the time of the takeover there were only around 17 Tesco stores in Scotland).

At one stage, the company also ran a chain of freezer centres (i.e. frozen foods specialists) known as Lowfreeze.^[2] Lowfreeze was sold in 1987 to Bejam, with Bejam being sold to rival Iceland in 1989.

Contents 1 Corporate Activiy 1.1 Takeovers and Mergers 1.2 1976-1984 Expansion 1.3 1993/94 Expansion 1.4 Market Share 2 History of the takeover 2.1 Competing bids 2.2 Financial performance: Before and after 2.3 Conversion to Tesco-formatted stores 2.4 Remaining stores 2.5 Planned Wm Low Store Expansion 2.6 Redundant stores 2.7 Distribution Centres 3 Store portfolio 3.1 Scotland 3.2 England 4 Typhoid outbreak 5 References and footnotes 6 External links

[edit] Corporate Activiy

[edit] Takeovers and Mergers

In 1984, Wm Low attempted but failed to take over Hintons. However in 1985, Wm Low was successful in the takeover of Laws Stores at a cost of £7.1 million. ^[3] Law's were predominantly based in the North East of England and had a portfolio of smaller stores than Wm Low. Wm Low proceeded to close unprofitable smaller Law's stores in 1986. ^[4] In 1989. Wm Low attempted to take over Budgens, a move described by Budgens as a friendly merger and had looked to be a done deal. This deal ultimately collapsed. ^[5] Also in 1989, James Millar of Wm Low approached John Apthorp, owner of Bejam Freezer Centres to explore the possibility of merging the 2 brands. But John Apthorp explains that he could not see the idea going ahead as Wm Low were losing market share and the store portfolio did not lend itself well to the possibility of conversions to freezer centre formats. ^[6]. This was a twist as earlier in 1987, Wm Low had sold its frozen food chain, Lowfreeze, to Bejam for £3.8 Million ^[3]

[edit] 1976-1984 Expansion

Wm Low almost doubled in size between 1976 to 1984 with sustained expansion and increased store sizes. In 1976, Wm Low had a total of 205,000 sq feet of floor space which by 1984 had become 446,000 sq feet. Wm Low also rose to be included as number 400 in the Times 1000, A list of top UK Companies in 1984, whereas in 1976 it was not even listed. ^[3]

[edit] 1993/94 Expansion

It was Wm Low's aim to achieve a total of 61 Stores and 959,000 sq feet of sales area by the end of the 1994 financial year.^[7]

Expansion into the north of England was a priority, with the £12 million, 30,000 sq ft Loughborough store opening in 1993. Amid huge publicity for price cuts on over 500 items, customers took their sleeping bags to await the opening of the store and claim their hamper, champagne and flowers. This was the company's first foray into direct competition with Sainsbury.

[edit] Market Share

Wm Low was one of the market leaders in Scotland in terms of market share, which was 7.4% in 1981, rising to 10.4% in 1984 and then 12.7% in 1986. It then started to fall until the 1994 Takeover by Tesco. ^[3]

[edit] History of the takeover

[edit] Competing bids

The takeover battle for William Low started on 14 July 1994, when Tesco announced its formal bid of £156 million for the company to dramatically improve its Scottish portfolio and an assurance it would not cherry pick the best stores. J Sainsbury launched a counter bid of £210 million but this would have led to a break up of the Wm Low portfolio as they had intended to maintain the best stores and dispose of the rest. The Scottish Market Leader at the time, The Argyll Group - Safeway - announced in July 1994 that it would not be making a bid for Wm Low.^[8] Sainsbury was keen to gain a stronger foothold in Scotland, having only 3 stores in Scotland at the time of the bid.^[9] Tesco reacted with an improved offer of £247 million and Sainsbury's withdrew from the battle.^[9] Tesco formally took over Wm Low on 2 September 1994 for a total sum of £257 million. Analysis at the time suggested that the Sainsbury bid was possibly a spoiler tactic as opposed to a serious takeover attempt.^[10]

The company had been independent for 126 years, having being founded in 1868. The purchase of Wm Low doubled Tesco's Scottish market share from 7.6% to 15.3% in 1995.^[11]

[edit] Financial performance: Before and after

James Millar, chairman of Wm Low at the time of the takeover, said that the company was "Not doing badly but could not compete with the big names".^{[citation needed]} Prior to the take over, sales had been falling at a rate of 6%, a figure that Tesco reversed to a growth of 20% by February 1996 and the former Wm Low stores contributed £11 million profit to the Tesco group.^[12]

Tesco quotes pre-tax profits prior to the takeover as being £17m in 1993 and £15m in 1994.^[12] The Scottish Business Insider quotes similar yearly figures:^[13]

• 1991: £354 million turnover, £21 million profit
• 1992: £394 million turnover, £23 million profit
• 1993: £253 million turnover, £20 million profit
• 1994: £446 million turnover, £21 million profit

Staff numbers prior to the takeover had been reasonably static, from 8799 employees in 1991 to 8981 in 1994.^[13]

[edit] Conversion to Tesco-formatted stores

A re-fit programme followed and Tesco scanning tills were installed at every store by August 1995, with the refit being completed by the end of 1996 at a cost of £35 million.^[12] Although the vast majority of old Wm Low stores have now been replaced with all-new Tesco stores, as of December 2006 some branches retaining some of the basic old Wm Low format still exist (e.g Shelving, Open Grid false Ceilings, Blue / Pink Tiling in Toilets, dark red flooring). However, most have undergone a couple of internal refits since the takeover. Externally, they are, in some cases, still adorned with awkward-looking square Tesco signs (i.e those which had been designed to replace the square Wm Low signage, but using the existing fixings and mounting points). Keith, Banff and Dundee Lochee are probably the best examples of what remains of the Wm Low formats in Scotland to this day, with stores which have not been majorily refitted since takeover - Keith is due for imminent replacement in 2008 and Banff is due to be relocated in 2009, whilst the future of Dundee Lochee is unclear. Wishaw Tesco has just moved to a Purpose built store in November 2007 across from its original Wm Low store.

[edit] Remaining stores

Most of the remaining Wm Low stores have been converted to the Tesco "Metro" format, in line with their smaller size. Such stores can be found in St Andrews, Campbeltown, Monifieth, Inverness, Fort William, Helensburgh and Keith to name but a few.

[edit] Planned Wm Low Store Expansion

At the time of the Tesco take over, a number of new Wm Low Stores were earmarked for development. These were ultimately launched as Tesco's but had been planned by Wm Low. This included Aviemore, ^[14] Cupar and Dunblane, opened between 1995 and 1996.

[edit] Redundant stores

Some of the now redundant sites have gone on to find new owners after Tesco relocated in nearby areas. The former Wm Low Dingwall has now become a Lidl, Wm Low Blairgowrie became M & Co whilst Wm Low Elgin became TK Maxx. Wm Low Forres remains empty to this day. Wm Low Bathgate became B Wise, which then became Qs which has since closed down. The site is currently derelict.

[edit] Distribution Centres

The Wm Low warehouse in Gateshead was closed in March 1995.^[12] The head office and Distribution Centre at the Dryburgh Estate in Dundee became the Tesco Customer Service Centre and one of two Scottish Distribution Depots for Tesco.

Wm Low Dryburgh Distribution Centre was built in the mid 1970's by Wm Low with an expected 25 years life span. In 2006, Tesco announced the closure of the Dundee depot to create a brand new centre in Livingston on the site of the former NEC which would also replace the current distribution centre already based in Livingston ( now open as of October 2007 ). The customer service centre is unaffected by the closure. Residents of Dundee have reacted furiously to the news of the depot closure.

[edit] Store portfolio

The following is a list of Wm Low stores in existence immediately prior to the takeover by Tesco.^[15]

[edit] Scotland

Banff, Bathgate, Blairgowrie, Bo'ness, Campbeltown, Carnoustie, Coatbridge, Craigmarloch, Cumbernauld, Dalgety Bay, Dalkeith, Dingwall, Dumfries, Dunbar, Dundee x 2, Edinburgh x 2, Elgin, Forfar, Forres, Fort William, Grangemouth, Greenock, Haddington, Helensburgh, Inverness, Inverurie, Keith, Kilmarnock, Kirkcaldy, Kirkintilloch, Kirriemuir, Lanark, Linlithgow, Milngavie, Monifieth, Montrose, Oban, Perth x 2, Rosyth, St Andrews, Stranraer, Wishaw

In 1999, Tesco agreed to swap the Carnoustie, Dunbar and Kirriemuir stores with Lothian Borders & Angus Co-operative Society to gain a larger superstore in Galasheils.^[16]

[edit] England

Consett, Driffield, Gateshead (Rowlands Gill), Goole, Ilkeston, Jesmond, Loughborough, Northallerton, Sleaford, Thirsk, Whitehaven, Workington.

[edit] Typhoid outbreak

On the 6th and 7th of May 1964, the Aberdeen branch delicatessen used a tin of Argentinian corned beef that had not been processed properly (and was infected with Typhoid).^[17] Due to the fact that the meat was sliced using a communal deli slicer, approximately 500 people were diagnosed in Aberdeen in 1964 with suspected typhoid. William Low was never successful in the city again with their store closing in the city only 3 years later.

[edit] References and footnotes

[edit] External links

• History Scotland article by Lesley Diack and David Smith; discusses the Aberdeen Typhoid Outbreak of 1964, more about the case and William Low's involvement