Hepworth Ceramic Holdings
1970 Hepworth Ceramic Holdings was formed as holding company[1] to effect a merger between Hepworth Iron Co and General Refractories Group Ltd.
1970 Acquired the TP drainage and sheetlines businesses from Thermo Plastics[2]
1972 Hepworth Ceramic bought James Oakes and Co maker of clay pipes, cable conduits and sulphuric acid[3].
1972 Acquired Fordath Ltd, which complemented the industrial sands business[4]
1983 Made a bid for Steetley but the take-over was blocked by the Monopolies Commission[5]
By 1984 the Hepworth group had 43 subsidiaries, of which 29 were UK-based; the group had 6 divisions:
- Clayware - headed by Hepworth Iron Co (Holdings) Ltd
- Refractories - headed by G R Stein Refractories Ltd
- Industrial Sands and Minerals - headed by British Industrial Sand Ltd
- Plastics - headed by Hepworth Plastics Ltd
- Foundry resins and equipment - headed by Fordath Ltd
- Engineering and miscellaneous - headed by Hepworth Industries Ltd
1987 Acquired Tube Investments home heating division, consisting of Glow Worm Boilers and Parkray[6]
1988 Acquired Henderson Group, garage door manufacturers[7]
1989 Name changed to Hepworth[8]