Hills Limited

Hills Limited
Public
Traded as ASX: HIL
Founded 1945
Headquarters Adelaide, SA, Australia
Key people
 Jennifer Helen Hill-Ling (Chairperson), Grant Logan (CEO and Group Managing Director)
Subsidiaries APG, Crestron Australia, DAS, Hills Antenna & TV Systems, Hills Sound Vision and Lighting, Intek, LAN 1, OPS, Pacific Communications,Step Electronics, Hills Connection Solutions (former TechLife) and Hills Health Solutions (former HTR, Merlon, Questek)
Website www.hills.com.au

Hills Limited (formerly Hills Holdings Limited) is a technology product and services business delivering integrated security and surveillance, audio visual, lighting, communications and mobility, alert devices and services into environments such as hospitals, aged care, transport, education, banking and the corporate sector.

The company was initially built upon the invention of the Hills Rotary Hoist.[1]

History

Lance Hill began to manufacture a lever-style Hills rotary clothes hoist in his backyard in 1945.[2]

Lance Hill's brother-in-law Harold Ling returned from the war and joined him to form a partnership in 1946. Ling became the key figure in expanding the production and marketing of the Hills hoist. In 1947 Hills Hoists began manufacturing a wind-up clothes hoist. This design, often incorrectly credited to Lance Hill, had been patented by Gilbert Toyne in 1925. It was an all-metal model (Australian Patent No. 24553/25) with its enclosed crown wheel-and-pinion winding mechanism.[3] Toyne had established manufacturing sites in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney and his Toyne hoist was available for purchase nationwide by the 1930s. However it was Hills entry into the market place at the end of World War II which saw them gain dominance of the rotary clothes hoist market.[4]

The company Hills Hoists became Hills Industries in 1958. They purchased an Adelaide tube-making mill to ensure supplies of steel tubing, which was difficult to obtain during World War II. In the following years, Hills Industries also purchased a galvanising firm, as well as a plate and polishing shop.[5]

In 1955, Hills Industries became a public company. However, Lance Hill retired in 1956 due to ill-health, and Harold Ling took over as chairman of the company.[5] In 1959, the company began manufacturing television antennae.[6] It quickly diversified into other products, usually involving some form of metal fabrication, such as playground swings and folding chairs.

On 12 November 2010, the company changed its name to Hills Holdings Limited.

On the appointment of its new Group managing Director and CEO Ted Pretty in September 2012 the company embarked on a major restructure and transformation.

On 4 December 2013, changed its name from "Hills Holding Limited" to "Hills Limited".[7]

On 4 December 2014, Woolworths Limited (ASX:WOW) and Hills Limited (ASX:HIL) announced a strategic partnership.. The licensing agreement is for up to 19 years and gives Woolworths exclusive rights to the Hills heritage brand as it applies to more than 240 products including clotheslines, clothes care and garden sprayers.

On 27 May 2015, the Hills Board appointed Grant Logan as Chief Executive Officer.[8]

References

  1. ↑ Urban, Rebecca; Westerman, Helen (18 May 2005). "Hills are alive with sound of movement". The Age. Melbourne.
  2. ↑ Harris, D.(1996) What a line! The story of the people who made the hoist an Australian icon: fifty years of Hills
  3. ↑ Gilbert Toyne’s 1925 rotary clothes hoist patent IP Australia: Accessed 3/6/2011
  4. ↑ Cuffley, P. & Middlemis, C.(2009) Hung Out to Dry: Gilbert Toyne's classic Australia clothes hoist
  5. 1 2 Moore, George (2001). "The Development of the Hills Company". The Creators. Balcatta, Western Australia: R.I.C. Publications. p. 21. ISBN 978-1-86311-676-3. Retrieved 16 July 2010.
  6. ↑ "Invest Smart > Hills Industries Limited (HIL)". Fairfax Media Invest Smart. 19 May 2010. Retrieved 15 July 2010.
  7. ↑ "Hills Limited" (PDF). ASX ASX. 4 December 2013. Retrieved 4 February 2013.
  8. ↑ http://www.corporate.hills.com.au/getattachment/ee581d11-ada8-4289-9414-2504de630c43/Appointment-of-a-new-Chief-Executive-Officer
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