Falkland Islands Company

The Falkland Islands Company Ltd. (FIC) was founded in 1851 and was granted a Royal Charter to Trade in 1852 by Queen Victoria. It is known locally as The Company or FIC is a diversified goods and services company owned by FIH group plc.

The Falkland Islands Company Ltd.
Private limited company
Industry Diversified
Founded 1851 (1851)
Headquarters Stanley, Falkland Islands
Area served
 Falkland Islands
Key people
  • Kevin Ironside (MD)
  • David Casey (Finance Director)
  • Tara Francis (Retail Director)
    • Roy Smith (Construction Director)
    • Susan Knipe (Procurement Director)
    Revenue £18,055,000 (2016) [1]
    £310,000 (2017)[1]
    £83,000 (2017)[1]
    Total assets £20,515,000 (2017)
    Total equity £741,000 (2017)
    Number of employees
    		 220
    Parent FIH group plc
    Website www.the-falkland-islands-co.com

    Businesses

    Retail & Distribution

    • The West Store Shopping Complex:
      • The West Store Foodhall, featuring supplies from Waitrose, Tesco and Iceland
      • The Capstan Gift Shop
      • Clothing Department
      • The Electrical Store
    • Crozier Place:
      • Home Builder, DIY and builders' merchant
      • Home Living, selling home improvements
    • The West Store at RAF Mount Pleasant
    • Cafés within West Store Stanley, West Store Mount Pleasant and Crozier Place
    • FIC Warehouse, wholesale sales with chilled & frozen storage

    Automotive

    • Falklands 4x4 is a Land Rover dealership, a JCB agency, Castrol Oil's agency and boat maintenance service.
    • Largest hire and lease fleet on the islands.

    Property

    • SAtCO (South Atlantic Construction company) is a joint venture company with Trant Engineering, established in June 2012 and provides construction solutions for large scale building, civil and engineering projects across the Falklands.
    • The FIC owns 50 residential and commercial properties for let, as well as 400 acres of prime land, much with planning permission.

    Insurance

    • Caribbean Alliance Insurance Company agent, provides a range of insurance services, including motor, buildings, public liability and contract risk for buildings under construction.
    • Lloyd's Agents for the Falkland Islands dealing with cargo surveys and other reporting.

    Building and Electrical

    • Falklands Building Services and Falklands Electrical Services, providing new home builds.

    Penguin Travel

    • Coach and mini bus provider for local airport transfers, connections and tours.

    Agency

    • Fishing Agency acting as agent for over 100 fishing vessels and for cruise ships belonging to Holland America and Princess Lines.

    Flights

    • Agent for the MoD Airbridge Service for Air Tanker flights between RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire and RAF Mount Pleasant.

    Falklands Removal Services Agent for both Whites and Crown Removals with worldwide connections available.

    Falklands Shipping Shipping product between the UK and the Falklands on the MoD FIRS vessels southwards and wool shipments northwards.

    History

    Falkland Islands Company's historical building in Stanley, Falkland Islands

    19th Century

    The Falkland Islands Company (FIC) was incorporated in 1851 and received its Royal Charter on 10 January 1852. Established with an authorised capital of £100,000 its purpose was to engage in agricultural and general trading activities including establishing a shipping link with the UK. In 1888,FIC purchased J M Dean & Sons for shares. J M Dean acted as agent for farmers, and operated the West Store in the capital Stanley. The company was also a Lloyds Agent and owned a hotel and other property assets in the Islands.

    20th Century

    1913 bought a regular shipping service to Montevideo.In the 1930s the company was regularly transporting wool to Montevideo using the ships Fitzroy and Lafonia [2][3] By 1945 the Falkland island company acquired farm property in the Falklands, amounting to total agricultural land holdings reaching 1.2m acres and 300,000 sheep. In 1962 FIC shares listed on The London Stock Exchange making it a public company. In 1971 The companys last regular ship - the Darwin, stopped traveling between the Falklands and Montvideo.[2]

    In 1972 FIC was acquired by The Dundee Perth and London Shipping Company Limited which was then purchased by Coalite Group PLC.

    1989 FIC's owners, Coalite acquired by Anglo United plc in a leveraged buy out.

    1991 FIC's agricultural land holdings, 4 farms consisting of 25% of the land of the Falkland Islands sold to the Falkland Islands Government following the Shackleton report.[4]

    1997 Anglo United which has an unsustainable amount of debt undergoes a capital reconstruction and distributes shares in Falkland Islands Holdings plc to its shareholders. For every 300 Anglo United shares shareholders receive 1 share in Falkland Islands Holdings. At this point the Falkland Islands Company became a full subsidiary of Falkland Islands Holdings, name changed to FIH Group plc in September 2016.

    References

    1. 1 2 3 "Companies house accounts". Falkland island company. Retrieved 20 March 2017.
    2. 1 2 http://www.falklands.gov.fk/assets/OurIslandsOurHistory.pdf
    3. ↑ http://www.leithshipyards.com/ships-built-in-leith/1918-to-1939/103-lafonia-yard-no-189-passengercargo-vessel-falkland-islands-co-ltd-built-1931.html
    4. ↑ https://www.falklands.gov.fk/self-sufficiency/commercial-sectors/agriculture/
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