verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . may 2014 learn how and when to remove this template message h.r. owen type plc industry vehicle retailer founded 1932 headquarters london united kingdom key people harold rolfe owen founder mamad kashani akhavan ceo products luxury cars revenue 400 million 1 number of employees 500 website www.hrowen.co.uk h.r. owen is britain s leading luxury motor dealer and the world s largest retailer in rolls royce bentley lamborghini and bugatti brands . the company is headquartered in london and operates 14 sales franchises and 17 aftersales franchises . 2 in 2015 ferrari named h.r. owen as the best ferrari dealership in the world after the business scored the maximum number of points in all of the judging categories . 3 contents 1 founding 2 post war 1946 70 3 growth and consolidation 1970 2013 4 brands and dealerships 5 references 6 external links founding edit harold rolfe owen was born in yorkshire on 6 november 1899 and served in the royal flying corps in world war i. serving in northern france in 1917 the 18 year old captain owen was badly injured in a crash spending a week in a coma . it was almost a year before he could walk again but after the war was over he returned to uniform joining the indian army . owen subsequently served for some years abroad principally at bombay karachi and aden before returning to britain and beginning work at the national benzole company . a keen sportsman owen s skill as a polo player made him welcome at society house parties . this gave him many useful sales contacts when he joined rolls royce and bentley retailer jack barclay in 1927 becoming general manager a short while later . harold owen and jack barclay parted company amicably five years later when the former decided to start out on his own in motor retailing though the two names would be linked once again 68 years later when the two companies bearing their names were reunited . the new h.r. owen rolls royce and bentley dealership opened in mayfair s berkeley street in february 1932 and continued trading until the outbreak of war when luxury car retailing came to an enforced halt . harold owen fully intended to resume the motor retail business post war but he fell ill when on tank manoeuvres with his regiment the 4th queen s own hussars and died 17 february 1940 following an emergency operation to remove a brain tumour . 4 post war 1946 70 edit following harold owen s death the h.r. owen business was bought by percy fritz swain who reopened the business in 1946 on the old location in berkeley street . an astute trader swain began to build a larger motor empire buying up retailers as well as coachbuilders and suppliers . on the death of a.j. webb in 1955 swain bought coach builder freestone and webb . the post war years were not kind to independent coachbuilders as prestige manufacturers such as bentley and rolls royce were obliged by advances such as monocoque construction finally adopted in 1965 for their silver shadow and t series cars to shift from supplying only the chassis and drivetrain of a vehicle to building the complete car bodywork and all . with freestone and webb s main chassis supplier relationship coming to an end the coachbuilding business continued to refurbish and build bodies until 1958 when it became only a name for a showroom . in october 1959 5 swain sold the rolls royce and bentley distributorships and the allied service function to the provincial traction company having previously sold h.r. owen s other operations which he had put under the name of coachbuilders harold radford to a city syndicate led by radford . the syndicate sold those operations to provincial traction in march 1961 . 6 ten years later in 1969 provincial traction joined the wiles group 7 which was later renamed hanson trust . just over twelve months after that hanson exchanged it with lex 8 which almost immediately passed it on to heron holdings . 9 growth and consolidation 1970 2013 edit h.r. owen remained within gerald ronson s heron group for almost 25 years . it was bought by malaya group plc in 1994 then under the leadership of nicholas lancaster . 10 h r owen plc in 1997 on the 65th anniversary of h.r. owen s foundation malaya group changed its name to h.r. owen plc. in 2000 the group bought jack barclay thus becoming the world s largest dealer for rolls royce and bentley cars . although the two brands were split at manufacturer level in 1998 between rolls royce motor cars bought by bmw group and bentley volkswagen group h.r. owen continues as a rolls royce retailer while jack barclay of berkeley square remains the world s largest bentley dealer . in 2004 the h.r. owen group sold its volkswagen and the majority of its bmw brand dealerships to their respective manufacturers . 11 a year later the firm was appointed official uk dealer for bugatti and by 2008 became the world s largest bugatti dealer . the company is quoted on the london stock exchange under the securities code hro.l . h.r. owen ferrari knightsbridge in early 2011 as part of a new alliance with ferrari the company opened a flagship ferrari atelier in london s knightsbridge where potential customers can customise their new car . in august of that year hr owen announced the acquisition of broughtons of cheltenham a smaller luxury motor dealer for an enterprise value of 2.8 million . broughtons owned three bentley franchises in cheltenham pangbourne and byfleet strengthening hr owen s relationship with bentley and an aston martin franchise in cheltenham forging a relationship between hr owen and aston martin for the first time . 12 under the leadership of ceo mamad kashani akhavan h.r. owen continues its focus on customer service in the field of luxury and supercar retail whilst extending the customer offering on new business areas including h.r. owen classic cars h.r. owen insurance services luxury hire and chauffeur drive . in 2014 h.r. owen generated 400 million in revenue . 1 berjaya group in september 2013 h.r. owen was the subject of a successful takeover by malaysia investment group berjaya group 13 who paid 43.2 million for the company becoming its majority shareholders . 2 brands and dealerships edit the group operates retail outlets in london berkshire gloucestershire hertfordshire surrey and manchester which includes fourteen sales franchises and thirteen aftersales franchises for the aston martin bentley bugatti ferrari lamborghini maserati and rolls royce marques . the group also operates aftersales only franchises for audi bmw lotus and mini . references edit a b about hr owen . h.r. owen . retrieved 2016 06 04 . a b hr owen accepts improved tan offer . herald scotland . 2013 09 14 . retrieved 2016 06 04 . hr owen named as world s number one ferrari dealer . am online . 2016 01 07 . retrieved 2016 06 04 . company . h.r. owen . retrieved 2011 01 23 . the provincial traction company limited . the times thursday aug 04 1960 ; pg . 14 ; issue 54841 the provincial traction company limited . the times monday jul 03 1961 ; pg . 21 ; issue 55123 . bids deals & mergers . the times friday feb 21 1969 ; pg . 28 ; issue 57491 deal with hanson doubles lex operations . the times saturday may 23 1970 ; pg . 11 ; issue 57877 bids deals & mergers . the times friday sep 04 1970 ; pg . 26 ; issue 57962 am100 analysis jardine motors drives ahead with expansion am online . business big shot nicholas lancaster of hr owen . the times . december 31 2009 . retrieved 2011 01 23 . hr owen acquires broughtons for 1.5 m . motor trader . retrieved 2014 02 06 . h.r. owen recommends investors accept bpi takeover bid . yahoo finance . 13 september 2013 . retrieved 2014 02 06 . external links edit hr owen company website coordinates 51 30 08 n 0 09 22 w 51.5021543 n 0.1559938 w 51.5021543 ; 0.1559938 retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title h.r. owen & oldid 742837228 categories auto dealerships of the united kingdomcompanies based in kensington and chelseacompanies listed on the london stock exchangebritish companies established in 1932retail companies established in 1932hidden categories articles needing additional references from may 2014all articles needing additional referencescoordinates not on wikidatause dmy dates from april 2016use british english from april 2016 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 6 october 2016 at 03 13 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view