Metal Industries, Limited was a conglomerate of mostly British engineering companies. It was founded in Glasgow in 1922"Company Meeting", The Times, Sept 13, 1951, p.8 by Robert Watson McCrone."Obituary: Robert Watson McCrone", The Times, Apr 10, 1982, p.10 In 1953 its activities were described as "electrical and mechanical engineering manufacture and metal trading"Classified Advertisement, The Times, November 12, 1953, p.2 In 1967, Aberdare Holdings of South Wales acquired a controlling interest in the group,The Times, July 13, 1967, p.19 but was quickly thwarted when M.I. created a large tranche of new shares which it sold to Thorn Electrical Industries, giving Thorn overall control of the company.The Times, July 17, 1967, p.17 The City Panel on Takeovers and Mergers referred to "abuses and inequities" that occurred during this chaotic takeover, among others at the time, but declined to recommend tougher regulations."City panel rejects need for market supervision", The Times, Jan 29, 1975, p.21 A good history of the company's shipbreaking activities was published by the World Ship Society in 1992 in Ian Buxton's "Metal Industries: Shipbreaking at Rosyth and Charlestown".
The subsidiary companies continued to trade as the 'Metal Industries' group of Thorn until 1970,"Thorn" (advertisement), The Times, Aug 11, 1970, p.18 when it merged with the George Cohen 600 group to become Six Hundred Metal Holdings."Metal pair-up by '600' and Thorn", The Times, Apr 14, 1970, p.29 In 1976, Thorn sold its interest in the group to the government-owned British Steel Corporation."BSC pay £3.75m for one-third interest in scrap processor", The Times, July 31, 1976, p.19
Timeline of acquisitions, mergers, sales and closures 1922: Formed as Alloa Shipbreaking Co., Rosyth & CharlestownFrank C Bowen, "The Shipbreaking Industry", naval-history.net, accessed 2012-04-11"Metal Industries", Grace's Guide, accessed 2012-04-11 October 1926: Purchased Rosyth Shipbreaking Co. and gained their leases at HM Dockyard, RosythBuxton 2019, p. 110 1932: Sale of oxygen business to British Oxygen Company 1935: Metal Industries, Limited converted to public company 1940: Acquisition of Electrical Switchgear and Associated Industries Ltd."City News in Brief", The Times, May 18, 1940, p.10 and its subsidiary Brookhirst Switchgear Ltd., Chester 1941: Sentinel Waggon Works (1936) Limited "Company Results", The Times, Dec 12, 1941, p.9 1942: Igranic Electric Co., Bedford "City News in Brief", The Times, Apr 14, 1941, p.7 1945: Sentinel Waggon Works renamed to Sentinel (Shrewsbury) Limited 1946: Reorganisation: Metal Industries (Electrical Group) Limited set up to organise all electrical business; Metal Industries (Salvage) Ltd., Faslane, to take over salvage business; Sentinel (Shrewsbury) Limited to run engineering business; Metal Industries, Ltd. to become holding company"Company Meetings", The Times, Sept 20, 1946, p.9 1947: Ferrous Light Castings, Warrington (completion of acquisition) 1948: Fawcett Preston & Co. Ltd., Bromborough (founded 1758) 1948: Cantle Switches Ltd. (closed 1958) 1949: John Allan & Co. (Glenpark) Ltd. (est. 1898) 1949: Cox and Danks Ltd."Company Meetings", The Times, Aug 31, 1949, p.9 (see Ernest Cox) 1952"Company Meetings", The Times, Sept 4, 1952, p.7 or earlier: Hughes Bolckow Shipbreaking Company Limited, Blyth 1955: Formation of Metind Limited 1955: Acquisition of resistor business from the Rheostatic Company"Metal Industries expansion", The Times, Jan 21, 1955, p.12 1955: Acquisition of Finney Presses Ltd. 1956: Sale of Sentinel (Shrewsbury) Limited to Rolls-Royce 1957 or earlier: Shipbreaking Industries Limited 1957: Closure of Metind Limited 1959: Merger of Igranic with Brookhirst 1958: Merger of Finney Presses Limited, Birmingham with Fawcett Preston 1958: Sale of British Oxygen Company Limited 1958: Farmer Brothers (Shifnal) Limited 1959: Avo Ltd. and subsidiary Taylor Electrical Instruments Limited 1959: Olaer France S.A., Paris 1959: Towler Brothers (Patents) Limited May 1959: International Rectifier Co. (Great Britain) Limited, at Oxted, Surrey, joint-owned with International Rectifier of California"Metal Industries Limited" (advertisement), The Times, Aug 16, 1960, p.13 1960: Lancashire Dynamo Group, including: Lancashire Dynamo Nevelin, Oxted Lancashire Dynamo & Crypto, Trafford Park (sold to A.E.I., 1967) Lancashire Dynamo Electronic Products Foster Transformers, Wimbledon & Leatherhead J. G. Statter & Co., Amersham 1961 or earlier: New Eagle Foundry, Birmingham"Business Changes", The Times, Jan 27, 1961 1961 or earlier: Cable Jointers, Crypton Equipment, Dynamo & Motor Repairs, Minerva Mouldings 1961 or earlier: Metal Industries (Europe) S.A. 1961: Closure of Metal Industries (Salvage) LimitedChairman's statement (advertisement), The Times, Aug 2, 1961, p.15 1963: M.I. (South Africa) (Pty.), renamed from Brookhirst Igranic South Africa (Pty.) 1963 or earlier: Dominion M.I. Limited, Montreal 1964 or earlier: Mattel-Marden Limited (joint owned) 1964: Acquisition of 50% of International Rectifier Corporation Italiana S.p.A."M.I. drive in Europe", The Times, Jan 24, 1964, p.20 1965: Acquisition of 50% of International Rectifier Europe S.A."Metal Ind. expands in Europe", The Times, July 2, 1965, p.23 1966: Industrial Automation Controls Ltd.The Times, Sep 23, 1966, p.19 (set up to coordinate Brookhirst Igranic and Lancashire Dynamo Electronic Products) 1966: Disposal of Fawcett PrestonChairman's statement (advertisement), The Times, Aug 16, 1966, p.13 Aug 1967: Acquired by Thorn"A year of unprecedented growth" (Thorn advertisement), The Times, Aug 13, 1968, p.17 1970: Merged into Six Hundred Metal Holdings
Chairmen 1922-1951: J Donald Pollock 1952-1955: Robert Watson McCrone 1955: J S Hutchison 1956-1964: Charles WestlakeThe Times, Aug 18, 1964, p.14 1965-? Alexander I. McKenzie
Notable salvage operations 1934: , Scapa Flow"A Salvage Feat", The Times, Sept 3, 1934, p.12 1935: , Scapa FlowShare prospectus, The Times, July 29, 1935, p.19 1936: , Scapa Flow"German dreadnought raised", The Times, May 15, 1936, p.9 1937: , Scapa Flow"Scuttled battleship raised", The Times, May 1, 1937, p.13 1938: , Scapa Flow"Grosser Kurfurst raised", The Times, Apr 27, 1938, p.20 1939: , Scapa Flow"Derfflinger salved at Scapa Flow", The Times, July 25, 1939, p.9 1947: , Scapa FlowShare prospectus, The Times, Apr 9, 1947, p.9 1952: , Pentland Firth 1952: , Ailsa Craig"Hope of salving Finnish ship", The Times, Dec 27, 1952, p.2 1957: Lona, Hull"Company Meetings", The Times, July 11, 1957, p.17 1957: Suez Canal
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