Hanson
In 1964 James Hanson and Gordon White created Hanson Trust out of the former Wiles Group. Hanson PLC went on to become one of the world’s biggest companies with annual profits of more than £1.5 billion and a strategy of growth through acquisition.
In the 1970s and 80s Lords Hanson and White turned Hanson into a multi-national concern with interests across the world ranging from chemical factories in the US to electricity supply in the UK and gold mines in Australia. Hanson produced cigarettes and batteries, timber and toys, golf clubs and Jacuzzis, cod liver oil capsules and cranes.
By the mid-1990s the climate in which Hanson operated began to change as investors began to look beyond the traditional big conglomerate to companies focused on single sectors.
In January 1996 the decision to de-merge the Hanson business into four separate companies was taken. Imperial Tobacco, The Energy Group and the US chemicals business, Millennium, subsequently became quoted companies in their own right. Hanson’s strategy was to change from a diversified industrial conglomerate into a focused heavy building materials business.
The major building materials companies remaining within Hanson were ARC, Hanson Brick and Cornerstone.
Lord Hanson stepped down as chairman in December 1997. He was succeeded by Christopher Collins.
From 1997-2000 the Hanson board undertook the substantial changes required to deliver the new strategy. The remaining non-core businesses were sold. Considerable sums were spent on acquisitions to build up the existing businesses and capital investment on plant upgrades was stepped up to improve efficiency and reduce costs.
Early in 1999, to highlight the fact that Hanson was now a unified company, the names of all the operating companies were changed to Hanson. ARC became Hanson Quarry Products Europe; Cornerstone – Hanson Building Materials America and Hanson Brick – Hanson Bricks Europe. The company’s business in south-east Asia became Hanson Pacific.
Acquisitions continued, particularly in the US, and the Hanson company was developed into a global player with the acquisition in May 2000 of the Australian construction materials business Pioneer International.
In January 2002 Hanson created an integrated building materials business in Europe by combining its quarry products and bricks operations into a new division called Hanson Building Materials Europe.
Hanson continued to review its operations with the principal objective of streamlining administration, reducing overheads and improving customer service by creating a more integrated building materials business.
As part of this objective and with an aim to simplify its corporate structure and make the existing group more responsive to market conditions, Hanson restructured its trading operations in June 2003 into four identifiable trading regions: North America, the UK, Australia, and Rest of World.
Whilst this restructuring does not indicate any change in Hanson's overall strategy, it does reinforce a continued focus on its core values of cost and margin control, together with disciplined and proactive growth via capex and bolt-on acquisitions.
The management of Hanson will continue to develop and improve the business with the intention of delivering long-term value for its shareholders.
Source www.hansonplc.com
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