The company was floated on the Stock Exchange in 1968 as Greensitt & Barratt by which time the company was building 500 homes a year and the growth plan had been "fully achieved". Lewis Greensitt left shortly after the flotation and in 1973 the company was renamed Barratt Developments. The 1970s saw Barratt making a series of acquisitions, transforming the company from a local housebuilder to a national firm building around 10,000 houses a year, and rivalling George Wimpey in size. The largest of these acquisitions were the Manchester firm of Arthur Wardle and the Luton-based Janes.