Sears plc was a large British-based conglomerate. The company was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. It was acquired by Charles Clore in the 1950s who expanded the company to be one of the largest retailers in Britain. It was acquired by Philip Green in 1999 who oversaw the break up of the group.

The business was founded by John and William Sears in 1891 and initially traded as bootmakers under the name of Trueform. Despite the company using the Sears name, it has no relations with Chicago, Illinois-based Sears Roebuck and Company and its 2005-2019 parent company, Hoffman Estates, Illinois-based Sears Holdings Corporation.

In 1929 Sears acquired footwear retailers Freeman, Hardy and Willis.

The business was acquired by Charles Clore in 1953 for £4 million, by which time it had over 900 shops. In 1954, Sears bought Haverton Holdings for £3.5 million, which owned Furness Shipbuilding Company and a controlling interest in listed hosiery knitting machine manufacturer, Bentley Engineering, in which Clore was a board member. He renamed the group Sears Holdings in 1955 and went on to buy the Manfield and Dolcis shoe shop chains the following year, bringing the total number of shops up to almost 1,500.

In the late 1950s Clore consolidated all the shoe brands Sears had acquired under the name British Shoe Corporation under which name it also bought the recently merged Saxone Lilley & Skinner, another shoe shop chain with over 500 shops, in 1962. In June 1959, the group acquired the remainder of the Scottish Motor Traction Company for £1.7 million. In August 1959, after already acquiring a controlling interest, they increased their ownership in Mappin & Webb jewelers to 98% for £3 million. In October 1959, Mappin & Webb bought Garrard & Co, the Crown Jeweller, for almost £1 million. The same year, the group also tried to acquire brewer Watney Mann for £20 million. By the year-end, the group divided itself into four sub-divisions (British Shoe Corporation; Engineering; Motor distribution, and Mappin and Webb).

In 1964, the group acquired US linen hire and industrial laundry, Consolidated Industries, which it renamed Sears Industries. Sears Industries later acquired US knitwear manufacturer, Highlander.

Sears decided to invest in department stores in 1965 acquiring Lewis's Investment Trust which itself controlled Selfridges for £63 million. In 1966, Selfridges launched the Miss Selfridge department, which subsequently expanded to a store chain in its own right.

Following large losses, in October 1968, Clore sold the Furness Shipbuilding yard to the Swan Hunter group for £2.5 million, retaining a small shareholding in Swan Hunter.