Elementis
 | |
| Public (LSE: ELM) | |
| Industry | Chemicals |
| Founded | 1844 |
| Headquarters | London, UK |
Key people |
Bob Beeston, Chairman Paul Waterman Group Chief Executive |
| Revenue | $678.8 million (2015)[1] |
| $122.5 million (2015)[1] | |
| $95.3 million (2015)[1] | |
| Website | www.elementis.com |
Elementis plc is one of the UK's largest speciality chemicals business. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.
History
The company was founded in Liverpool in 1844 as Harrisons and Crosfield by Daniel Harrison, Smith Harrison and Joseph Crosfield to trade in tea and coffee.[2] In the 1860s it became one of the largest tea traders in the UK.[2] In 1903 it diversified into operating rubber plantations in the far east acquiring shareholdings in a number of plantation companies.[3] Then in 1948 the company became a major producer of latex at its factory in Petaling.[3]
In 1967 it acquired Durham Chemicals in Birtley[4] and in 1973 acquired British Chrome & Chemicals in Eaglescliffe so diversifying into the chemicals business.[5] It also acquired a stake in the Sabah Timber Company[6] and then in 1978 took complete control of it.[3] By the end of the 1970s Harrisons and Crosfield was the 91st largest industrial company in the UK by turnover.[7]
In 1982 it sold its Malaysian plantations and in 1994 it sold its Indonesian plantations: these business have since been absorbed into Sime Darby[8] and London Sumatra respectively.[9]
In 1998 it changed its name to Elementis plc[2] and acquired Rheox, a speciality chemicals business[10] and in 2002 it acquired Oxychem's chromium chemicals business.[11]
Operations
The business has three divisions:
- Speciality chemicals
- Chromium chemicals
- Surfactants
References
- 1 2 3 "Preliminary Results 2015" (PDF). Elementis. Retrieved 3 April 2016.
- 1 2 3 "AIM25 collection description". aim25.ac.uk. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
- 1 2 3 Harrisons and Crosfield Timeline
- ↑ "AIM25 collection description". aim25.ac.uk. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
- ↑ "AIM25 collection description". aim25.ac.uk. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
- ↑ The Sabah Timber Company The Straits Times, 2 April 1964
- ↑ Geoffrey Jones (2000). Merchants to Multinationals: British Trading Companies in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries. Oxford University Press. p. 156. ISBN 978-0-19-829450-4.
- ↑ Finishing with only hope The Edge Malaysia, 22 October 2007
- ↑ Lonsum builds North Sumatra's first botanical garden Indonesia Economic Reports, 29 August 2006
- ↑ "Elementis Specialties - History". elementis.com. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
- ↑ Elementis completes Chromium acquisition Adhesives & Sealants Industry, 1 March 2003
