Hale Electric Co. Ltd.
Radio Works, Talbot Rd., West Ealing, London W13. (1946 -1952)

Brands: Etronic & Midgetronic

Hale Electric Co. Ltd. manufactured radios, radiograms & televisions from the mid-1940s under the Etronic brand.

They also marketed one-off radio models under the name Midgetronic, & radiograms named Winsdor & Cheltenham. [1]

Some radios are known with a H.E.C.L. label.

The company was liquidated in 1952 due to financial problems caused by settling a trademark infringement and the doubling of purchase tax by the newly elected Conservative government in the budget of 1951 and subsequently closed in 1952. [2]

Hale Electric Co. Ltd. started producing radio in the mid-1940s.

It was the use of ‘…tronic’ that was in part responsible for the company’s demise in early 1952.

Although unremarkable, Hale’s products were robust and reliable – a good example of function over form – and of comparable quality with the market leaders of the time. Their components were of good quality, but lacking the clout of the big manufacturers they were constantly forced to invest heavily tying up working capital to buy stock to ensure supply stability.

It was perhaps because of this that by the late 40s the company had decided its future was in the domestic television market and it was investing heavily to secure a foothold and a decent market share.

Hale didn’t really do anything wrong, and the company’s demise could be attributed to a series of unfortunate events, starting in 1950 when they were compelled to make an out-of-court settlement over trademark infringement for using "tronix". This knocked the company back a bit and then in the budget of 1951, the killer blow came when, overnight, the government doubled purchase tax from 33% to 66.7%.
The company simply couldn't drop their prices to remain competitive and the resultant reduction in revenue combined with the significant capital tied up in stock and TV production was too big a burden for the company and it was forced to call in the receivers in January of 1952. [2]

Sadly, had the company been able to hold on for a few more months it might have survived. The doubling of purchase tax by the newly elected Conservative government in the budget of 1951 caused enormous damage to the UK radio industry, in fact to much of the UK manufacturing industry. While ‘utility' goods were exempt from purchase tax, it stood at 100 percent on luxury goods. Critics claimed that this distorted the economy away from the production of quality goods and badly affected exports and so by 1952, just one year after doubling the purchase tax, the Board of Trade abolished the purchase tax in favour of a flat-rate sales tax on all goods and services.

[1] Practical Wireless Oct 1951, Page 440.
[2] Board of Trade Journal Oct 18, 1952, Page 732.