Editing Avro Canada (section)

===Expansion and diversification===
A.V. Roe Canada was restructured in 1954 as a holding company with two aviation subsidiaries: Avro Aircraft. and [[Orenda Engines]], which began operating under these names on 1 January 1955.<ref>Whitcomb 2002, p. 61.</ref> Each company's facilities were located across from each other in a complex at the perimeter of Malton Airport. The total labour force of both aviation companies reached 15,000 in 1958.

During the same period, with [[Crawford Gordon]] as president, A.V. Roe Canada purchased a number of companies, including [[Dominion Steel and Coal Corporation]], [[Canadian Car and Foundry]] (1957), and Canadian Steel Improvement. By 1958, A. V. Roe Canada Ltd. was an industrial giant with over 50,000 employees in a far-flung empire of 44 companies involved in coal mining, steel making, railway rolling stock, aircraft and aero-engine manufacturing, as well as computers and electronics. In 1956 the companies generated 45% of the revenue of the Hawker Siddeley Group.<ref>Whitcomb 2002, p. 13.</ref> In 1958, annual sales revenue was approximately $450 million, ranking A.V. Roe Canada as the third largest corporation in Canada by capitalization. By the time of the cancellation of the Arrow and Iroquois, aircraft-related production amounted to approximately 40% of the company's activities with 60% industrial and commercial.<ref>Campagna 1998, p. 62.</ref>

In 1956, 500,000 shares were issued to the public at a total value of $8 million. By 1958, 48% of the shares of A.V. Roe Canada were publicly traded on the stock exchange.<ref>Campagna 1998, p. 63.</ref> Although controlled and largely owned by UK-based Hawker Siddeley Group, all profits from A.V. Roe Canada were retained within the company to fund development and growth. Management of the Canadian companies remained in Canadian hands.