and the company began to expand in new directions, including rubber and textiles. By way of example, Dodwell & Co. was one of the fifteen members of the Association of Hong Kong Rubber Footwear Importers, supplying wellingtons, ankle boots and plimsolls with distinctive red "Dodca Empire Made" rubber labels to British retail outlets during the 1950s and the early 1960s. The brand name "Dodca" appears to have derived from the surnames of the company's two founders Dodwell and Carlill, while Hong Kong rubber footwear manufacturers routinely labelled their exported products "Empire Made" before the 1970s. Dodwell & Co. also expanded into motor vehicles. Dodwell Motors, a subsidiary, was formed in Hong Kong after the war. It amalgamated in 1969 with Inchcape's Metro cars to form Metro-Dodwell Motors Limited, which took over all British Leyland franchises in Hong Kong. From the mid-1950s, Dodwell & Co. specialised as buying agents for department and chain stores throughout the world, opening their own retail stores in some places, including Kenya and Hong Kong (franchise of Marks & Spencer and later BHS). In 1972 the whole share capital of Dodwell & Co. Limited was acquired by Inchcape and Company Limited, which maintained Dodwell as a quasi-independent company for some time. Only when a combination of factors plunged Inchcape into its two most difficult years ever, 1994 and 1995, much of Dodwell & Co. was sold off in separate parts. In 1995 the buying agent business of Dodwell & Co. was sold as part of Inchcape Buying Services to the smaller competitor Li & Fung Ltd. (Hong Kong). The shipping service of Dodwell & Co. had been integrated into the newly formed Inchcape Shipping Services (ISS) in 1993, which was purchased by Electra Investment Trust Plc, a British investment group in 1999. In January 2006 Electra sold ISS to Istithmar PJSC, a major investment house based in Dubai (United Arab Emirates). The extensive interests in business-machine trading in Hong Kong, Japan and many other Far Eastern countries, which Dodwell & Co had established by the 1970s, were also hived off. Inchcape, since 1999 solely focused on the sale of motor vehicles, only retained the motor car business of Dodwell & Co.. Premises Dodwell & Co. had its Head Office from 1891 to 1903 at "Dock House", Billiter Street and thereafter at 24, St. Mary Axe, both City of London (London, England). See also S. H. Dodwell