Parker Meggitt (formerly Meggitt plc) is a British international company specialising in components and sub-systems for the
aerospace
Aerospace is a term used to collectively refer to the atmosphere and outer space. Aerospace activity is very diverse, with a multitude of commercial, industrial and military applications. Aerospace engineering consists of aeronautics and ast ...
, defence and selected energy markets. It was 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 Pau ...
and was a constituent of the
FTSE 100 Index
The Financial Times Stock Exchange 100 Index, also called the FTSE 100 Index, FTSE 100, FTSE, or, informally, the "Footsie" , is a share index of the 100 companies listed on the London Stock Exchange with (in principle) the highest marke ...
until it was acquired by
Parker Hannifin in September 2022.
History
Origins
The company's history spans back to multiple preceding businesses that were originally founded in both the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Meggitt's own official history claims that the company's roots can be traced through to 1850 via the scientific instrumentation business
Negretti & Zambra, which had, amongst other innovations, invented the world's first
altimeter
An altimeter or an altitude meter is an instrument used to measure the altitude of an object above a fixed level. The measurement of altitude is called altimetry, which is related to the term bathymetry, the measurement of depth under water. The m ...
for the
hot air balloon
A hot air balloon is a lighter-than-air aircraft consisting of a bag, called an envelope, which contains heated air. Suspended beneath is a gondola or wicker basket (in some long-distance or high-altitude balloons, a capsule), which carries ...
.
During 1947, a new business was founded under the trading name ''Willson Lathes''; it operated as a
machine tool
A machine tool is a machine for handling or machining metal or other rigid materials, usually by cutting, boring, grinding, shearing, or other forms of deformations. Machine tools employ some sort of tool that does the cutting or shaping. Al ...
manufacturer based in
Halifax,
West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...
.
That same year, Willson Lathes became a quoted
public company
A public company is a company whose ownership is organized via shares of stock which are intended to be freely traded on a stock exchange or in over-the-counter markets. A public (publicly traded) company can be listed on a stock exchange ( ...
. During 1964, Meggitt, a
Dorset
Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of , ...
-based light engineering business, was wholly acquired by Willson Lathes; subsequently, management decided to change the company's name to ''Meggitt Holdings''.
1980–1999
During 1983, Nigel McCorkell and Ken Coates, together with
3i Group, took control of Meggitt via a
management buy-in A management buy-in (MBI) occurs when a manager or a management team from ''outside'' the company raises the necessary finance, buys it, and becomes the company's new management. A management buy-in team often competes with other purchasers in the s ...
.
The new management team soon embarked on a series of acquisitions, aimed at increasing the business' geographical diversity to become an international engineering company; it focused on speciality sectors within fields such as
aerospace
Aerospace is a term used to collectively refer to the atmosphere and outer space. Aerospace activity is very diverse, with a multitude of commercial, industrial and military applications. Aerospace engineering consists of aeronautics and ast ...
, controls,
electronics
The field of electronics is a branch of physics and electrical engineering that deals with the emission, behaviour and effects of electrons using electronic devices. Electronics uses active devices to control electron flow by amplification ...
and energy.
During 1985, Meggitt Holdings acquired
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 ...
-based avionics specialist Negretti and Zambra.
In 1986, the company bought the engineering interest ''Bestobell'', which had historically focused on
aviation
Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' includes airplane, fixed-wing and helicopter, rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as aerostat, lighter- ...
air ducting and sealing solutions.
Following the appointment of Michael Stacey as the
CEO
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...
of Meggitt Holdings in 1990, the company was reorganised to focus its efforts around three core markets: aerospace, defence systems and electronics. Further acquisitions were conducted during the 1990s. In 1992, Meggitt acquired sensor specialist firm Endevco, specialists in sensors for test and measurement applications.
During 1998, engine diagnostics specialist Vibro-Meter was also acquired to improve the company's portfolio of condition monitoring capabilities. In the following year,
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
n aviation aftermarket support firm Whittaker Corporation was also acquired by Meggitt for $380m.
During July 1997, Meggitt received their first contract from
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
commercial airline manufacturer
Boeing
The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and ...
to provide solid-state clocks for the
Boeing 737
The Boeing 737 is a narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Renton Factory in Washington.
Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the twinjet retains the 707 fuselage width and six abreast seating with two u ...
; separately, it was contracted to provide the secondary flight display system for the
Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II
The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is an American family of single-seat, single-engine, all-weather stealth multirole combat aircraft that is intended to perform both air superiority and strike missions. It is also able to provide el ...
. That same year
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
aviation company
CASA appointed it to supply the air ducting system for its new
C-295
The CASA C-295 (now Airbus C295) is a medium tactical transport aircraft that was designed and initially manufactured by the Spanish aerospace company CASA.
Work on what would become the C-295 was started during the 1990s as a derivative of ...
utility transport aircraft. In 1998,
Raytheon Aircraft
Hawker Beechcraft Corporation (HBC) was an American aerospace manufacturing company that built the Beechcraft and Hawker business jet lines of aircraft between 2006 and 2013. The company headquarters was in Wichita, Kansas, United States, with ...
awarded the company a contract to supply solid state altimeters and secondary flight display systems for numerous business aircraft, including the
Beech King Air,
Beech 1900D
The Beechcraft 1900 is a 19-passenger, pressurized twin-engine turboprop regional airliner manufactured by Beechcraft. It is also used as a freight aircraft and corporate transport, and by several governmental and military organizations. With c ...
,
Hawker 800XP
The Hawker 800 is a mid-size twinjet corporate aircraft. It is a development of the British Aerospace BAe 125, and was assembled by Hawker Beechcraft.
Development
In April 1981, the British Aerospace board sanctioned the programme to improve ...
and
Hawker Horizon, in its lineup. Later that year, Boeing announced that Meggitt would be its sole supplier of solid-state electronic standby instrumentation for all of its airlines.
2000–2009
During 2001, a new CEO,
Terry Twigger, took over at Meggitt. The company continued to expand through numerous acquisitions throughout the 2000s. In 2002, it arranged to acquire Lodge (Brothers), a British manufacturer of speed and temperature sensors for aero engines, from
Smiths Aerospace
GE Aviation Systems (formerly Smiths Aerospace) is an American aerospace engineering, aircraft engine and aircraft parts manufacturer.
Smiths Aerospace was formerly one of four business units of Smiths Group plc., an engineering company and con ...
. During the following year, Meggitt bought Western Design, which manufactured automated ammunition-handling apparatus and environmental control systems. In 2003, it acquired Caswell International, a provider of high-tech live fire training systems.
During 2004, the company, in cooperation with
The Carlyle Group
The Carlyle Group is a multinational private equity, alternative asset management and financial services corporation based in the United States with $376 billion of assets under management. It specializes in private equity, real assets, and ...
, bought the
Dunlop Standard Aerospace Group
Dunlop Standard Aerospace Group Ltd. was formed in 1998 from the assets of BTR Aerospace Group when they were purchased by Doughty Hanson & Co.
In 2004 the company was sold and split into two. The Carlyle Group, a private equity firm, acquir ...
's design and manufacturing divisions; the deal included Dunlop Aerospace Braking Systems, Dunlop Ice Protection & Composites, Dunlop Precision Rubber; Dunlop Equipment, Serck Aviation, and Stewart Warner South Wind. This rapid acquisition rate led to Meggitt's high increases in annual revenue around this period.
During 2005, Meggitt acquired sensors and electronics specialist Sensorex; that same year, it also bought ECET, an airborne electronic equipment and ignition systems manufacturer, as well as refuelling equipment specialist Avery-Hardoll.
In 2006, the company purchased both simulation provider Firearms Training Systems and
compressor
A compressor is a mechanical device that increases the pressure of a gas by reducing its volume. An air compressor is a specific type of gas compressor.
Compressors are similar to pumps: both increase the pressure on a fluid and both can tr ...
producer Airdynamics. By this point, the
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and th ...
n market comprised around 50 per cent of the firm's revenue stream. A year later, Meggitt acquired K&F Industries, the parent company of the Aircraft Braking Systems Corporation. During 2008, it bought Ferroperm Piezoceramics A/S, which manufactured high quality piezoceramic materials for sensors.
The company launched several products throughout the decade, such as the Meggitt Avionics new Generation Integrated Cockpit (MAGIC) for
business aircraft
Business aircraft are aircraft typically used by companies and corporations to transport people or goods related to the needs of said businesses. Most business aircraft are general aviation aircraft variants of piston or turboprop or busi ...
, bleed air leak detection (BALD) system, and its Electro-Thermal-based
Ice Protection (ETIP) system, often choosing to promote its latest entries at the biennial
Farnborough Air Show
The Farnborough Airshow, officially the Farnborough International Airshow, is a trade exhibition for the aerospace and defence industries, where civilian and military aircraft are demonstrated to potential customers and investors. Since its fir ...
. Meggitt has been a long time supplier of
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
ian aircraft manufacturer
Embraer
Embraer S.A. () is a Brazilian multinational aerospace manufacturer that produces commercial, military, executive and agricultural aircraft, and provides aeronautical services. It was founded in 1969 in São José dos Campos, São Paulo, where i ...
; in 2018, it was announced that the company had been selected to provide various systems, including the
pneumatic
Pneumatics (from Greek ‘wind, breath’) is a branch of engineering that makes use of gas or pressurized air.
Pneumatic systems used in Industrial sector, industry are commonly powered by compressed air or compressed inert gases. A central ...
bleed air
Bleed air is compressed air taken from the compressor stage of a gas turbine upstream of its fuel-burning sections. Automatic air supply and cabin pressure controller (ASCPCs) valves bleed air from high or low stage engine compressor sections. Low ...
system, brake control system, and
carbon
Carbon () is a chemical element with the symbol C and atomic number 6. It is nonmetallic and tetravalent
In chemistry, the valence (US spelling) or valency (British spelling) of an element is the measure of its combining capacity with o ...
brake units, of the firm's
Legacy 450/500 business jet
A business jet, private jet, or bizjet is a jet aircraft designed for transporting small groups of people. Business jets may be adapted for other roles, such as the evacuation of casualties or express parcel deliveries, and some are used by pub ...
. Meggitt's vibration monitoring system was also integrated into multiple platforms, including the
CFM International CFM56
The CFM International CFM56 (U.S. military designation F108) series is a Franco-American family of high-bypass turbofan aircraft engines made by CFM International (CFMI), with a thrust range of . CFMI is a 50–50 joint-owned company of Safran ...
,
General Electric GEnx
The General Electric GEnx ("General Electric Next-generation") is an advanced dual rotor, axial flow, high-bypass turbofan jet engine in production by GE Aviation for the Boeing 787 and 747-8. The GEnx is intended to succeed the CF6 in GE's pr ...
,
Rolls-Royce Trent
The Rolls-Royce Trent is a family of high-bypass turbofans produced by Rolls-Royce Holdings, Rolls-Royce.
It continues the Turbofan#Three-spool, three spool architecture of the Rolls-Royce RB211, RB211 with a maximum thrust ranging from .
L ...
and
PowerJet SaM146
The PowerJet SaM146 is a turbofan engine produced by the PowerJet joint venture between Snecma (Safran) of France and NPO Saturn of Russia. Developing of thrust, the SaM146 is used on the Sukhoi Superjet 100.
Snecma is in charge of the core eng ...
turbofan
The turbofan or fanjet is a type of airbreathing jet engine that is widely used in aircraft engine, aircraft propulsion. The word "turbofan" is a portmanteau of "turbine" and "fan": the ''turbo'' portion refers to a gas turbine engine which ac ...
engines, amongst others.
2010–2020
![Meggitt Miami](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c9/Meggitt_Miami.jpg)
In 2010, the company restructured itself into five new divisions; consequently, all business units of Meggitt have operated thereafter through divisional management.
In 2011, Meggitt acquired the Pacific Scientific Aerospace Group, a component supplier of both civilian and military aerospace sectors; this acquisition included ''Securaplane Technologies Inc.'', an aerospace camera and battery supplier involved in producing
GS Yuasa
is a Kyoto-based Japanese company specializing in the development and production of lead acid and lithium-ion batteries, used in automobiles, motorcycles and other areas including aerospace and defense applications.
History
Yuasa
In 1909, ...
's batteries for the
Boeing 787 Dreamliner
The Boeing 787 Dreamliner is an American wide-body jet airliner developed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes.
After dropping its unconventional Sonic Cruiser project, Boeing announced the conventional 7E7 on January 29, 2003, ...
fleet, which was grounded in January 2013 due to multiple onboard battery fires. Subsequent investigation found that the charger was not at fault for the battery defects, clearing Meggitt products of culpability for the fires.
During 2013, Meggitt's finance director, Stephen Young, took over as its CEO following Terry Twigger's retirement. In 2016, Tony Wood joined Meggitt as its CEO, becoming Chief Executive during the following year after Stephen Young's retirement.
During 2015, the company began to build up its composites division via the acquisition of British manufacturer EDAC, as well as the advanced composites division of
Cobham PLC
Cobham Limited is a British aerospace manufacturing company based in Bournemouth, England.
Cobham was originally founded by Sir Alan Cobham as Flight Refuelling Limited (FRL) in 1934. During 1939, British airline Imperial Airways performed se ...
.
In 2018, Meggitt announced plans to relocate its UK headquarters from
Bournemouth Airport
Bournemouth Airport (previously known as Hurn Airport and Bournemouth International Airport) is an airport located north-northeast of Bournemouth, in southern England. The site opened as RAF Hurn in 1941, but was transferred to civil cont ...
to a purpose-built facility in
Ansty, Warwickshire.
In 2021,
Parker Hannifin made an offer for the company, valuing it at £6.3 billion. The transaction was approved by the UK Court on 9 September 2022, and the acquisition completed on 13 September.
Products
Products include a target drone,
Meggitt Banshee
The BTT3 Banshee, formerly the Target Technology Banshee & Meggitt Banshee, is a British target drone developed in the 1980s for air defence systems training.
Design and development
The Banshee was developed by Target Technology Ltd. The compa ...
.
See also
*
Aerospace industry in the United Kingdom
The aerospace industry of the United Kingdom is the second-largest national aerospace industry in the world (after the United States) and the largest in Europe by turnover, with a global market share of 17% in 2019. In 2020, the industry employed ...
References
External links
Official site
{{Authority control
Engineering companies of the United Kingdom
Aerospace companies of the United Kingdom
Defence companies of the United Kingdom
Companies formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange
Manufacturing companies established in 1947
Companies based in Hampshire
3i Group companies
1947 establishments in England
2022 mergers and acquisitions
British subsidiaries of foreign companies