Cash and Carry warehouses were set up around the country. In 1951, 90,000 Ordinary Shares were offered at 22 s. (£1.10) to Preference Shareholders and 10,000 to existing Ordinary Shareholders. The Preference Shareholders took up 57,000 of the Ordinary Shares offered to them and the Ordinary Shareholders took up all of theirs. This appears to be the first time that Ordinary Shares were offered to the general public. The dividend on Ordinary Shares for the year to 28 Feb 1956 was 10%. This was held in 1957 and 1958. Decline In 1961 the business was acquired by Scribbans-Kemp. Their chairman said it was an old-established firm with a very substantial wholesale trade in food commodities, notably sugar and a chain of over 100 retail grocery shops. Reports in later years show Scribbans reporting challenging conditions and acquiring more and more other firms. In June 1967, Chairman William McPhail said he hoped conditions would improve. In January 1968, Chairman William McPhail and managing Director Dr. William A. Bullen were stated in a single announcement to be both leaving, having joined in 1964 and 1966 respectively. Then in August another grocery firm, Oakeshotts, were purchased for £1.5 million At the AGM for the year ended 29th Mar 1969 Scribbans reported having sold their bakery business to J. S. Lyons and to be acquiring more shops. The wholesale part of the business was converting to "Cash and Carry" stores. These were losing money – this would have to be controlled. The overdraft was up to £60 million and this would have to be funded. Lyons also reported buying the bakery business at their AGM. The name was changed from Scribbans-Kemp to Barker and Dobson between 1971 and 1973 and the share price moved downwards. In 1973, Budgetts and Oakeshotts had a new Managing Director. In September 1974 some of the Cash and Carry stores were sold. Barker and Dobson had problems in 1975 and 1976. The Times said: "Trading losses and write offs reported", 18 Jul 1975, "deeper in red" 31 Dec 1975, "Oakeshotts to dispose of 67 shops", 29 May 1976, "Loan deeds breached", 26 Jun 1976, "Lossmaker Barker & Dobson qualified", 3 Aug 1976. By 1977 Budgetts had been sold for "almost £5m" but it is not clear to whom. Budgetts began as a small shop in 1820, lost its autonomy 140 years later in 1961 and probably disappeared completely in