11 Facts About Inchcape plc

Inchcape plc is a British multinational automotive distribution, retail and services company headquartered in London.

An outgrowth of Calcutta-based Mackinnon Mackenzie Company, Inchcape has operations in 32 countries across Asia, Australia, Europe, Africa and South America.

Inchcape plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.

Inchcape plc chose the title "Baron Inchcape, of Strathnaver in the County of Sutherland", after the Inchcape Rock, which lies off Strathnaver and Arbroath in Scotland, a prominent landmark which he had known well from sailing on voyages with his shipmaster father.

Inchcape plc's growth was largely due to a series of mergers and acquisitions, including the merger with Borneo Company Limited in 1967, which almost doubled the company's size by adding Hong Kong, Malaysia, Canada, Singapore, Brunei and Thailand to the operation.

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Inchcape plc bought Joska Bourgeois's Japanese car distribution business, the International Motor Company, for £14.

Under the chairmanship of George Turnbull, Inchcape plc had reinforced in the 1980s its concentration on its core businesses.

In certain areas such as marketing, Inchcape plc had become a more bureaucratic organisation than in the past, and had lost touch with some of the local markets it served.

In March 1998 spurred by the Asian economic crisis, Inchcape plc announced, that it would focus exclusively on worldwide car distribution, the most successful part of the group.

The sales of bottling businesses in South America, marketing services in Asia and the Middle East, the global shipping business – Inchcape plc Shipping Services – and the Asia-Pacific Office Automation business were some of the wide range of divestments that quickly followed.

In 2006 Andre Lacroix took over as CEO and in 2007 Inchcape plc acquired European Motor Holdings, a leading European motor retailer.