Intertek Group plc is a British
multinational assurance,
inspection,
product testing
File:Consumer Reports - product testing - electric light longevity and brightness testing.tif, Testing electric light longevity and brightness testing
File:Consumer Reports - product testing - television testing laboratory.tif, Television testin ...
and
certification company headquartered in
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
, England. It is listed on the
London Stock Exchange
London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St P ...
and is a constituent of the
FTSE 100 Index.
History
Intertek traces its origins from a marine surveying business formed by Caleb Brett in the 1890s, a testing laboratory formed by Milton Hersey in
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...
in 1888 and a lamp testing centre established by
Thomas Edison
Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventi ...
in 1896.
These businesses were all acquired by
Inchcape plc
Inchcape plc is a British multinational automotive distribution, retail and services company headquartered in London. An outgrowth of Calcutta-based Mackinnon Mackenzie Company, Inchcape has operations in 32 countries across Asia, Australia, ...
during the 1980s and early 1990s.
[
In 1996, Inchcape Testing Services was acquired by ]Charterhouse Capital Partners
Charterhouse Capital Partners is a London based private equity investment firm focused on investing in European mid-market companies valued between €200m and €1.5bn. The company targets investments across the services, healthcare, specialis ...
and was renamed ''Intertek''.[
In 2000, the Company was divested by Charterhouse and was listed in 2002 on the ]London Stock Exchange
London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St P ...
. In April 2010, Intertek acquired Ciba Expert Services’ Environmental, Safety, & Testing and Regulatory businesses, including Cantox Health Sciences (Cantox) and Ashuren Health Sciences (Ashuren).
On 19 September 2007, Intertek announced its acquisition of National Software Testing Laboratories
National Software Testing Laboratories (NSTL) was established by serial entrepreneur Joseph Segel in 1983 to test computer software. The company provides certification (such as WHQL and Microsoft Windows Mobile certification), quality assurance ...
.
In April 2011, the company acquired Moody International
Moody International Ltd. provided technical services to reduce risk in the petroleum industry, amongst others.
On April 28, 2011, the company was acquired by Intertek for £450 million. At that time, the company had over 2,500 employees and 80 off ...
.
In May 2021, Intertek acquired SAI Global's Assurance and Standards Business units.
Operations
Intertek Consumer Goods and Retail is the largest tester of consumer goods in the world and has a network of more than 1,000 laboratories across around 100 countries.
The company has more than 42,000 employees across 100 countries in over 1,000 locations including large-scaled offices and testing facilities in New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
, London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
and Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...
. Centered around its laboratory testing services, the company provides quality and safety assurance to industries such as construction
Construction is a general term meaning the art and science to form Physical object, objects, systems, or organizations,"Construction" def. 1.a. 1.b. and 1.c. ''Oxford English Dictionary'' Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) Oxford University Pr ...
, healthcare, food and transport
Transport (in British English), or transportation (in American English), is the intentional movement of humans, animals, and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, land ( rail and road), water, cable, pipelin ...
. Products tested include batteries, accessories, apparel and chemicals.
Leadership
On 16 May 2015, André Lacroix succeeded Wolfhart Hauser
Wolfhart Gunnar Hauser (born 5 December 1949) is a German businessman, a former executive chairman of FirstGroup, and a former chief executive of Intertek, a British multinational inspection, product testing and certification company, from 2005 to ...
as CEO of the company.
See also
* ETL SEMKO
ETL SEMKO (formerly Electrical Testing Laboratory) is a division of Intertek Group plc (LSE: ITRK) which is based in London. It specializes in electrical product safety testing, EMC testing, and benchmark performance testing. ETL SEMKO operates ...
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
British companies established in 1885
Companies based in the City of Westminster
Product-testing organizations
Companies listed on the London Stock Exchange