EKCO

E. K. Cole Limited

Traded as	EKCO
Industry	Electronics and Plastics
Founded	1924 in Southend-on-Sea, United Kingdom
Founder	Eric Kirkham Cole
Defunct	Electronics early 1970s. Plastics in 1986.
Fate	Merger with Pye
Successor	Philips
Headquarters	Priory Crescent, Southend-on-Sea , United Kingdom
Number of locations	9
Key people	David Harman Powell Martyn Rowland
Products	Radio Television Plastics Radar Heating Lighting
Brands	Ferranti Dynatron
Number of employees	8,000
Parent	1960-1963 British Electronic Industries 1963-1967 Pye of Cambridge 1967-1978 Philips (via Pye Holdings) 1978-1986 Courtaulds
Subsidiaries	EKCO Electronics Ecko-Ensign Ecko Plastics Egen Electrical Ekco Instrumentation

EKCO (abbreviated from Eric Kirkham Cole Limited) was a British electronics company founded by Eric Kirkham Cole CBE^[1] in Southend-on-Sea during 1924. The company started out by making radio sets, before progressing onto television sets and lighting. The company's knowledge of radio saw it expand into developing radar before and during World War II. The company expanded into making its own plastic bodies for radio sets, with EKCO Plastics later becoming a manufacturer of domestic wares. The company merged in 1960 with Pye to become British Electronic Industries Ltd, which was purchased by Dutch firm Philips in 1967, with the EKCO brand disappearing from brown goods during the 1970s.