Wittington Investments Limited is a privately owned British

holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own shares of other companies ...

. It was incorporated in 1941 and is based in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, England. The company is 79.2% owned by the

Garfield Weston Foundation The Garfield Weston Foundation is a grant-giving charity based in the United Kingdom. It was established in 1958 by Canadian businessman W. Garfield Weston (1898–1978), who during his lifetime contributed to numerous humanitarian causes, both ...

, one of the United Kingdom's largest grant-making trusts, which was established in 1958 by Canadian-born businessman W. Garfield Weston (1898–1978), and 20.8% owned by members of the prominent

Weston family The Weston family is a prominent Canadian-origin family of businesspeople with global interests primarily in food and clothing ventures. The family operations began with the purchase of a bakery in 1884 by American-born Canadian George Weston in ...

. As of 5 April 2008, the trustees of the Garfield Weston Foundation valued their 79.2% stake in Wittington Investments at £3.62 billion.

Holdings

Wittington Investments owns 54.5% of

Associated British Foods Associated British Foods plc (ABF) is a British multinational food processing and retailing company headquartered in London, England. Its ingredients division is the world's second-largest producer of both sugar and baker's yeast and a major pr ...

, one of the largest food companies in the world and the parent company of

Primark Primark Stores Limited (; trading as Penneys in the Republic of Ireland) is an Irish multinational fast fashion retailer with headquarters in Dublin, Ireland. It has stores across Europe and in the United States. The Penneys brand is not u ...

, the largest discount clothing chain in the UK and Ireland. Associated British Foods also owns

British Sugar British Sugar plc is a subsidiary of Associated British Foods and the sole British producer of sugar from sugar beet, as well as medicinal cannabis. British Sugar processes all sugar beet grown in the United Kingdom, and produces about two-t ...

, processor of the entire UK beet crop and producer of half the UK consumption of sugar. Further assets include ownership of the British department store

Fortnum & Mason Fortnum & Mason (colloquially often shortened to just Fortnum's) is an upmarket department store in Piccadilly, London, with additional stores at The Royal Exchange, St Pancras railway station, Heathrow Airport in London and K11 Musea In Hong ...

, as well as

Heal's Heal's ("Heal and Son Ltd") is a British furniture retail company comprising seven stores, selling a range of furniture, lighting and home accessories. For over two centuries, it has been known for promoting modern design and employing ta ...

, a chain of homeware and furnishing stores in the UK.

Canadian company

There is a similarly-named company in Canada called "Wittington Investments, Limited", which controls

George Weston Limited George Weston Limited, often referred to as Weston or Weston's, is a Canadian food processing and distribution company. Founded by George Weston in 1882, the company today consists of Weston Foods, a wholly owned subsidiary, and Loblaw Companie ...

. It was founded by W. Garfield Weston in 1952 and is based in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, Canada. In December 2020, the Weston family announced that

Galen Weston Jr. Willard Galen Garfield Weston (born December 19, 1972), known as Galen Weston Jr. or Galen G. Weston, is an Irish-Canadian businessman and a member of the prominent Weston family. He serves as chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of Georg ...

had succeeded his father (

Galen Weston Willard Gordon Galen Weston (October 29, 1940April 12, 2021) was a British-Canadian billionaire businessman and Chairman Emeritus of George Weston Limited, a Canadian food processing and distribution company. Weston and his family, with an esti ...

Sr.) as the

controlling shareholder A controlling interest is an ownership interest in a corporation with enough voting stock shares to prevail in any stockholders' motion. A majority of voting shares (over 50%) is always a controlling interest. When a party holds less than the majo ...

of Wittington Investments, Limited. This company was the owner of the Selfridges Group of

department store A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store made a dramatic app ...

chains, including

Selfridges Selfridges, also known as Selfridges & Co., is a chain of high-end department stores in the United Kingdom that is operated by Selfridges Retail Limited, part of the Selfridges Group of department stores. It was founded by Harry Gordon Selfridge ...

in the UK,

Brown Thomas Brown Thomas & Company Limited is a chain of five Irish department stores, located in Dublin, Cork, Galway, Limerick and Dundrum Town Centre. Part of the Selfridges Group, Brown Thomas is an upmarket chain, akin to Britain's Selfridges stores ...

and

Arnotts Arnotts can refer to; * Arnott's Biscuits, an Australian biscuit and salted snack food company * Arnotts (Ireland), a department store in Dublin, Ireland * Arnotts (Scotland) Arnotts was a department store in Glasgow, Scotland. It became part o ...

in Ireland, and

De Bijenkorf De Bijenkorf (; literally, "the beehive") is a chain of high-end department stores in the Netherlands, with its flagship store on Dam Square in Amsterdam. The chain is owned by Selfridges Group, which also owns Britain's Selfridges and Ireland's B ...

in the Netherlands. In December 2021, it was reported that the majority of the Selfridges Group's assets were being sold for around £4 billion to a

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acces ...

between Thai conglomerate

Central Group Central Group consists of a variety of diverse investments in various corporations in Thailand and abroad, including investments in retail, property development, brand management, hospitality, and food and beverage sectors, and in digital lifes ...

and Austrian firm

Signa Holding Signa Holding GmbH (stylized as SIGNA) is Austria’s largest privately owned real estate company. Signa was founded in 2000 by the Tyrolean entrepreneur René Benko. Over the years, it has become a pan-European real estate group with more than ...

References

External links

Website of Wittington Investments Limited
(British company)
Webpage of Wittington Investments, Limited
(Canadian company)
2009 report of the Garfield Weston Foundation
(see page 15 for details of the ownership and assets of Wittington Investments Limited) {{Associated British Foods Companies based in the City of Westminster Privately held companies based in London Privately held companies of England Privately held companies of the United Kingdom Investment companies of the United Kingdom Family-owned companies of the United Kingdom Weston family Fortnum & Mason