Stella Radio & Television Company Ltd.
Oxford House, 9-15 Oxford Street, London W1. (1951)
Astra House, 121/3 Shaftesbury Avenue London WC2 (1962)

Brand: Stella

Stella was the wholesale brand for Philips consumer electronics products, created exclusively through wholesalers and operated from 1951 until 1966.

Philips products were rebranded as Stella during this time.

Early Stella history;

• In the late 1920s, the Stella Lamp Co. Ltd., originally called the Harlesden Lamp Co. Ltd., was acquired by Philips. This acquisition gave Philips ownership of the Stella brand name.
• Prior to this, there existed a company named Stella Products, Ltd., which manufactured loudspeakers in the mid-1920s. 
• Stella brand radios were also manufactured by Radio Corporation of New Zealand Ltd. and distributed by Cory-Wright & Salmon Ltd. in 1934.

Apart from the Stella name, no connections could be found between these three companies.

In early 1951, Stella Radio & Television Company Ltd. was announced with Eric W. Blades as Managing Director and Sales Manager. [1]

• Blades was a long-time Philips employee, having worked for the company for the previous 21 years.
• The first Stella products did not emerge until May of that year. They consisted of two very Philips-looking radios and two televisions: the ST1480U console model and the ST1522U table model.

As the company was under the control of Philips, advertisements and most models were similar to typical Philips models.

The company was liquidated in April 1966. [2] 

Philips continued the Stella brand after 1966, as evidenced by later-dated service manuals for the component and services company Combined Electronic Services Ltd. (CES). [3]     

[1] Wireless World Jul 1951, Page 270.
[2] London Gazette Apr 15, 1966, Page 4576.
[3] Philips 11TG190AT/Stella ST1100 Service Information, 1968, cover.