Babcock history

In 1892, evidence of the station’s relative growth in importance could be seen.

During 1895, Babcock & Wilcox Ltd opened a new boilermaking works, based on the 33-acre (130,000 m) site of the Porterfield Forge on the opposite side of the River Clyde near Renfrew.

In 1900, the company secured £1.57 million of investment, which was used to finance the expansion of its global presence via numerous overseas subsidiary ventures.

In 1908, the property was sold at public auction to H.C. Babcock for the price of $1,815.00.

During 1913, B&W began its involvement with the Rosyth Dockyard after winning a bid to construct a steam generation plant on the site; this presence served as a starting point for the firm's subsequent extensive involvement in the ship repair sector.

Originally lured to the area for hunting, Pittsburgh lumber magnate Edward Vose Babcock purchased the 91,000-acre tract of land known as Crescent B Ranch in 1914.

In the early 1970’s, as railroads were replaced by more efficient forms of travel, the station was abandoned by the railroad.

In 1973, Norfolk & Western Railroad deeded the idle station to the Town of Appomattox.

In 1977, 1,100 workers at Renfrew had been laid off due to declining orders.

B&W also continued to diversify internationally, including into the North American market; by 1979, the company's North American subsidiary was being attributed for generating one-third of total sales (£844 million) and more than half of the business's overall profits.

During 1982, Babcock International was floated on the London Stock Exchange, becoming Babcock International PLC. Around this time, subsidiary company Babcock & Wilcox (Operations) Ltd was rebranded Babcock Power Ltd; this division has subsequently become Babcock Energy Ltd.

By 1985, Babcock International's turnover had reached £1.1 billion; its subsidiaries were engaged in ventures and projects across the world, typically focusing on its contracting activities.

Systems engineer Stone International was acquired earlier in 1987.

Babcock International had sales of £46.7 million in 1990.

Coventry-based Tickford Rail, which refurbished train carriages, was bought in 1991.

In April 1992, the firm bought Middle Eastern energy industry contractor King Wilkinson.

In October 1993, Babcock got a new chief executive, John Parker, formerly head of Belfast shipbuilder Harland and Wolff.

Babcock had a £42 million loss on sales of £805 million for the fiscal year ended March 1994.

During 1995, a 75% stake in the boiler manufacturing and energy services activities (originally the core businesses of Babcock), by then known as Babcock Energy Ltd, were sold to Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding of Japan, and became Mitsui Babcock Energy Ltd.

During late 1996, Babcock purchased Rosyth from the Ministry of Defence at a net cost of £21m.

1997: Rosyth Dockyard is acquired.

After two dozen or so divestments in the previous five years, Babcock had sales of £500 million in 1998.

Babcock acquired Hunting Contract Services (HCS), the military support services business of Hunting, an oil services provider, in 2001.

SGI, a civil support services group, was acquired in 2002.

In March 2010, Babcock acquired VT Group for £1.32bn or 750p a share; the firm offered 361.6p per share in cash, as well as 0.7 new Babcock shares for each VT Group share. As a result of the merger, Babcock took over the contract to operate the Defence High Frequency Communications Service on behalf of the Ministry of Defence; this contract was originally awarded to VT Merlin Communications in 2003, for a period of fifteen years.

It successfully bid for Peterhouse Group plc, and on 18 June 2004, its bid was declared unconditional as over 50% of shares were held.

In November 2006, Mitsui sold the company to Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction a subsidiary company of the Doosan Group of South Korea: at that time the company was renamed Doosan Babcock Energy Ltd.

On 25 July 2007, the United Kingdom Government announced that the Aircraft Carrier Alliance, of which Babcock International is a part, would carry out final assembly of two new aircraft carriers for the Royal Navy at their Rosyth Dockyard.

On 22 April 2008, to further strengthen the brand in the Nuclear sector and submarine support sector, Babcock acquired Strachan & Henshaw from the Weir Group for £65m; at the time of the transaction, the company had over fifty years of experience in high integrity material handling.

In March 2010, Babcock acquired VT Group for £1.32bn or 750p a share; the firm offered 361.6p per share in cash, as well as 0.7 new Babcock shares for each VT Group share.

Three years later Commodore is bought out by Columbus and he’s once again a free agent in the summer of 2011, when he gets a call from a Detroit team manned by, you guessed it, Babs.

In May 2012, Babcock was awarded a £15m contract by the Ministry of Defence to support the design of the United Kingdom's next generation nuclear-armed submarines.

In July 2013, Babcock's Support Services division acquired Conbras Serviços Técnicos de Suporte LTDA in Brazil for a cash consideration of £18.2 million plus deferred consideration of £4.4 million.

The former Avincis units was subsequently rebranded under the Babcock name in January 2015.

In September 2019, it was announced that Babcock had been selected as the preferred bidder to build the new fleet of five Type 31 frigates for the Royal Navy.