Stone-Platt Industries
1842 J. Stone and Co founded by Josiah Stone, George Preston, and John Prestige[1].
1904 The private company J Stone and Company Ltd was registered to acquire the business of J. Stone and Co, brass, copper and iron workers, and mechanical and general engineers, of Deptford[2].
1950 Reconstruction of J. Stone and Co as a holding company; formation of 2 subsidiaries to handle the business J. Stone and Co (Charlton) Ltd (marine propellers) and J. Stone and Co (Deptford) Ltd (railway air conditioning); railway work was also handled at Oldham; the existing subsidiaries Stone-Wallwork Ltd and Stone Platt Engineering Co Ltd, which had complementary activities, would be merged into one, namely Stone-Wallwork, which would handle the mechanical engineering products; Stone-Platt would be liquidated. The existing 50 percent holdings in Light Metal Forgings Ltd and Stone-Fry Magnesium Ltd would be maintained[3].
1958 Scheme of arrangement to effect a merger between Platt Brothers and Co (Holdings), makers of textile machinery, and J. Stone and Co (Holdings); Stones became a wholly owned subsidiary of Platts; the company name was changed to Stone-Platt Industries[4].
1959 The principal subsidiaries were[5]:
- Bruntons (Sudbury 1919)
- Bulls Metal and Marine
- Coleman-Wallwork
- Dobson and Barlow
- Epsylon Industries
- Hayward Tyler and Co
- Howard and Bullough
- Joseph Hibbert and Co
- Le Grand Adsco
- Le Grand Rochester
- Le Grand Western Foundries
- Longclose Engineering Co
- Parks-Cramer (Great Britain)
- Platt Brothers and Co
- Prince-Smith and Stells
- J. Stone and Co (Charlton)
- J. Stone and Co (Deptford)
- Stone-Chance
- Stone Marine Engineering Co
- Taylor Wordsworth and Co
- T. M. M. (Research)
- Tweedales and Smalley
- Winsor Engineering Co
and associated companies:
- Barry-Wehmiller Machinery Co
- Carlyle Air Conditioning and Refrigeration
- Hoffmann Tweedales
- Stone-Fry Magnesium
1960 Formation of Stone-Manganese Marine to handle overseas sale of marine products of Manganese Bronze and Brass Co, J. Stone and Co (Propellors), Bulls Metal and Marine, and Steven and Struthers[6].
1961 Parent of 59 subsidiaries including J. Stone (Propellors) Ltd and Bulls Metal and Marine[7]. Employs 18,000 persons. [8]
1964 J. Stone and Co (Charlton) was a member of the Stone-Platt group[9].
1970s Stone-Platt Fluidfire supplied fluid-bed boilers.
1974 Mr. Derrick Willingham was appointed finance director who succeeded Mr G. G. Buckley.[10]
1980 Company defaulted on bank loan; major problems due to loss on textile machinery operation Platt Saco Lowell; sold pumps division to raise cash[11].
1981 Sold propellor division[12].
1982 Banks unwilling to put in further funds; company declared bankrupt; management buyout of the electrical division[13].
1984 Stone International, the electrical division, was rescued by management buyout from Stone-Platt Industries, and was subsequently floated[14].
1985 Stone International acquired W. G. Allen and Sons to further develop its energy systems activities[15]
Problems with an overseas contract forced the company to sell one of its more profitable subsidiaries[16]
1987 FKI Electricals acquired Stone International[17].
1991 FKI sold the Stone air conditioning business to a Japanese company[18]
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ The Times, 26 June 1905
- ↑ The Times, 26 June 1905
- ↑ The Times, 19 July 1950
- ↑ The Times, 18 October 1958
- ↑ The Times June 3, 1959
- ↑ The Times, 29 July 1960
- ↑ The Times, 3 June 1961
- ↑ 1961 Guide to Key British Enterprises
- ↑ The Times, 22 January 1964
- ↑ The Engineer 1974/05/02
- ↑ The Times, 19 March 1982
- ↑ The Times, 19 March 1982
- ↑ The Times, 19 March 1982
- ↑ The Times, 24 September 1984
- ↑ The Times 9 Mar 1985
- ↑ The Times, June 06, 1987
- ↑ Funding Universe [1]
- ↑ The Times, December 17, 1991