Flotation on the London Stock Exchange 1931
         
The larger of two Woolworth stores in San Francisco, with a new 5, 10 and 15 cent fascia in 1929. The small suburban store in Phillmore Street, San Francisco, also now a 5, 10 and 15 cent store. By the late 1930s, the American Woolworths had fully abandonned their upper price limit. The fascia design of the Seattle "wonder" store simple shows F. W. Woolworth Co. and the Diamond 'W'.
         
While the British Company was going from strength to strength, the American Company was struggling. They had already introduced a fifteen cent line (the rough equivalent of 9D or 3.75p), but this was not enough to stem the intense competition that they were facing from rival five and ten cent store chains like S. S. Kresge and J. J. Newberry. In the end they abandoned the upper price limit altogether, while in England Woolworths succeeded in keeping prices down below sixpence.   The Wall Street Crash of 1929, when the world's largest stock market in New York collapsed with many investors losing their money overnight, left business confidence across the United States at an all time low. American investors looked to F. W. Woolworth for something special to help them to stem their losses.
         
The answer, architected by Byron Miller, one of the American founders of the British Woolworths, was to sell stocks in the British Woolworths on the London Stock Exchange. The American controlling interest in the British company was reduced from 66% to 51%. 

Such was the success of the flotation that a 15% stake in the British company raised enough money to pay every investor across the world an exceptional dividend of 90 cents on each dollar invested.

 Annual dividends paid to investors in F. W. Woolworth Co (US), each year from 1912 to 1979. Note the enormous extra dividend in 1931 when some of the British equity was floated separately on the London Stock Exchange.
         
The chart (above), taken from the American company's 100th Anniversary retrospective annual report in 1979, shows the huge impact this had on the dividend in 1931 (shown in red). It took until 1982 (when the remaining 51% stake in the British Woolworths was sold for £330m) before the American parent was able to pay such a large dividend again. The total American investment ever made in the British Woolworths, made in 1909, was £50,000. This was repaid shortly afterwards from profits generated. From 1909 to 1931, 66% of profits generated were passed back to the American parent company, and from 1931 to 1982 51% if profits went back to America. All of the growth was self-financed, and the dividend payment of 1931 was funded entirely from the remarkable success of F. W. Woolworth & Co. Ltd. in the UK.
         
The 2 day sale at F. W. Woolworth & Co. Ltd. could bring a 1930s High Street to a virtual standstill. Every member of staff, past and present was expected to serve customers continuously from 8am until late into the evening. (Image: Paul Seaton) The flotation gave the British increased confidence and autonomy. From 1931 onward "Head Office" in New York would advise rather than direct. Byron Miller (elected Worldwide President of F. W. W. in 1932 on the strength of the flotation) noted in his diary - "the child has long since outgrown the parent, generating more profit and taking hold more quickly than the American company ever did. Yet it still sends half of the proceeds to the U.S." 
         
Shortly after the flotation Woolworths placed a full page advertisement in the national press, under the banner "Where sixpence works wonders", highlighting the huge array of items available for this price, and launching a "better buy British campaign" which continued right throughout the 1930s.
         
1932 advertisement showing the many British made items you could buy for sixpence or less in your local British Woolworths. 1932 advertisement showing the many British made items you could buy for sixpence or less in your local British Woolworths. 1932 advertisement showing the many British made items you could buy for sixpence or less in your local British Woolworths. 1932 advertisement showing the many British made items you could buy for sixpence or less in your local British Woolworths. 1932 advertisement showing the many British made items you could buy for sixpence or less in your local British Woolworths.
         
Click here to view the full one page 1930s newspaper advertisement.
 

1930s Gallery Home Page

Opening gambit - transforming the High Street   Flotation on the London Stock Exchange
Working for Woolies in the 30s - a day in the life   The first character merchandise hits the shelves
Amazing lengths to keep prices below sixpence   Buying ingenuity
Eclipse & Crown - the nation's favourite records   Our first Ladybird items
Royal events in the 1930s   Launch of "The New Bond" colleague magazine  Rumbling of war in the late 1930s
Price quiz - dateline 1939