BTR plc

BTR plc was a British multinational industrial conglomerate company. It was headquartered in London, United Kingdom.

The company was originally founded in 1924 as the British Goodrich Rubber Co. Ltd as a subsidiary of the American rubber specialist B.F.Goodrich Company. Ten years later, it became the British Tyre & Rubber Co. Ltd after Goodrich sold its stake in the business; it moved into synthetic rubber and plastics during the 1940s and withdrew from tyre production in 1956, adopting the name BTR Ltd around the same timeframe. Management pursued a strategy of diversification and rationalisation that lasted into the mid 1960s.

During late 1966, BTR came under the control of a new central management team, which Sir Owen Green took the lead of in the following year. Green pursued a strategy of targeted growth towards opportunities that quickly would become lucrative. New subsidiaries would be created and numerous acquisitions would be undertaken by Green and later by Alan Jackson. This approach included multiple hostile takeovers by BTR, though several such bids failed, for Pilkington, Norton Abrasives, and Hawker Siddeley.

BTR was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index during the 1980s and 1990s. During the 1990s, BTR accumulated a considerable debt burden and divested many of its divisions during restructuring efforts. During 1999, it was decided to merge with Siebe plc to form BTR Siebe plc, later renamed Invensys. Invensys was bought by and absorbed into Schneider Electric in 2014.