Westbury plc was a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 housebuilding company based in Cheltenham

Cheltenham

Cheltenham , also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a large spa town and borough in Gloucestershire, on the edge of the Cotswolds in the South-West region of England. It is the home of the flagship race of British steeplechase horse racing, the Gold Cup, the main event of the Cheltenham Festival held...

, Gloucestershire

Gloucestershire

Gloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean....

. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange

London Stock Exchange

The London Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located in the City of London within the United Kingdom. , the Exchange had a market capitalisation of US$3.7495 trillion, making it the fourth-largest stock exchange in the world by this measurement...

 and was a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index

FTSE 250 Index

The FTSE 250 Index is a capitalisation-weighted index consisting of the 101st to the 350th largest companies on the London Stock Exchange. Promotions to and demotions from the index take place quarterly in March, June, September and December...

 but was acquired by Persimmon plc

Persimmon plc

Persimmon plc is a British housebuilding company, headquartered in York, England, at a building called Persimmon House. The Company is named after a horse which won the 1896 Derby and St. Leger for the Prince of Wales. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange, and is a constituent of the FTSE...

 in 2005.

History

Westbury was established by the Joiner family in Gloucestershire in 1964. Westbury remained a very small operation until 1971 when Geoff Hester was recruited to run the business: from then on Westbury was managed by professional housebuilders from outside the Joiner family. After the 1974 housing recession there was a period of regional expansion and by the early 1980s there were three regions, Gloucester, Bristol and south Wales, building around 1500 units a year between them. By now, the Joiner family wanted to realise their equity in the Company and it was floated on the Stock Exchange in 1986. This was almost immediately followed by the acquisition of the midlands division of Whelmar and the opening of a southern region.

Although Westbury lost money for three years in the 1990 housing recession, it had maintained its volumes. By the mid-1990s the expansion programme resumed and a series of substantial acquisitions were made. Clarke Homes was bought from BICC in 1995; the Manchester-based Maunders in 1998; and the southern Prowting in 2002. At the same time, Westbury moved into prefabricated housing with the construction of a factory capable of producing 5,000 units a year, and diversified into financial services: both ventures lost money.

In November 2005 Westbury received a £643 million takeover approach from Persimmon plc

Persimmon plc

Persimmon plc is a British housebuilding company, headquartered in York, England, at a building called Persimmon House. The Company is named after a horse which won the 1896 Derby and St. Leger for the Prince of Wales. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange, and is a constituent of the FTSE...

, a larger British housebuilding company, which was accepted by the shareholders.