Johnson Service Group

Johnson Service Group is a specialist textile rental business based in Preston Brook, Cheshire, England. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.[2]

History

The business was established by William Johnson as a firm of silk dyers in Bold Street, Liverpool in 1817. Work started on a new head office at Mildmay Road off Stanley Road in Bootle under the direction of the then chairman, Benjamin Sands Johnson, in 1896.[3]

In 1920, Johnson Brothers acquired two dry cleaning companies, Jas Smith & Son and Flinn & Son Ltd of Brighton and, through further expansion over the next sixty years, became the largest dry cleaning organisation in the UK.[4] The company was renamed Johnson Group Cleaners in 1953.[5] A major competitor, Sketchley, launched a series of hostile, but ultimately unsuccessful, takeover bids for Johnson Group Cleaners between 1977 and 1985.[6][7]

After acquiring Stalbridge Linen Services in 1995, the twelve operating companies which made up Johnson Group Cleaners were restructured into just two businesses, Johnsons Cleaners and Johnsons Textile Services.[8] The company was renamed Johnson Service Group in 1998.[5]

Johnson Service Group acquired its competitor, the Sketchley Dry Cleaning business, comprising 103 branches, from the then-owners, Timpson, for £1 in May 2004.[9] In July 2006, Johnson Service Group announced its intention to sell its dry cleaning business, including the Sketchley and Jeeves of Belgravia brands.[10]

The company relocated from Bootle to Preston Brook in Cheshire in 2007[11][12] and was the subject of an initial public offering on the Alternative Investment Market in June 2008.[13]

In January 2015, the company announced the closure of 109 of their 307 remaining branches; the reason given was that the 109 shops' leases had come to an end and it would not be viable to renew them.[14] Then, in January 2017, Johnson Service Group sold the remaining 198 Johnson Cleaners stores, along with Jeeves of Belgravia and Jeeves International, to Timpson.[15]

The company's listing was transferred from the Alternative Investment Market to the main market in August 2025.[16]

External links