Trafalgar bought Ideal Homes in 1967. It had been the pre-eminent private housebuilder before the war with sales of over 5,000 houses a year but by the time of the acquisition it was building little more than 1,000 a year. New management enabled Ideal to grow again and the size of the division was increased by the acquisition of two other large housebuilders – Comben Homes in 1984 and Broseley Homes in 1986. By 1987 Ideal was again selling around 5,000 houses a year. Trafalgar House acquired the Cunard group of shipping and leisure companies in 1971. Cunard operated cargo and passenger ships, hotels and resorts. At that time it had forty-two cargo ships in service, with fourteen more under construction; and three passenger ships, with two more under construction. But twelve years later the cargo fleet had shrunk to eighteen, half of which were by then container ships. The size of the passenger fleet had remained constant. In 1989 Trafalgar House withdrew Cunard from the cargo shipping industry and sold off all its freighters. In 1964, Trafalgar House bought 49 percent of Bridge Walker (increased to full ownership in 1967). At the end of the following year it bought Trollope & Colls. From then on the prime umbrella operating division, in terms of turnover and revenue, was Trafalgar House Construction – generally referred to both inside the company and within the industry as 'THC'. As the division grew in scope and stature it was responsible for more and more large international projects. In 1986, Trafalgar House acquired John Brown Engineering, which built industrial gas turbines and also implemented licensed processes, such as the Union Carbide Corporation Polyethylene Plant. The basic processes were engineered to fit the purchaser's requirements, including the site plan, the production capacity, the raw material feedstock, and other constraints. John Brown Engineering had been the engineering division of the shipbuilder John Brown & Company of Clydebank. In 1989 Trafalgar House purchased a 40% shareholding in British Rail Engineering Limited. This was sold in 1992 to fellow shareholder Asea Brown Boveri. In 1992, Trafalgar House acquired the Davy Corporation, a group of international engineering companies which also included a well-established UK wide construction division. As the 1990 recession approached, Trafalgar continued to invest heavily: some £750m had been invested in commercial property alone between 1988 and the first half of 1990. Moreover, interest was not being charged to the profit and loss account but capitalised, and substantial borrowings were being carried off the balance sheet.