John Menzies plc ( , ) is the holding company of Menzies Aviation plc, an aviation services business providing ground handling, cargo handling, cargo forwarding and into-plane (ITP) fuelling, based in
Edinburgh, Scotland.
History
The company was founded by a bookseller, John Menzies, with his first shop in Princes Street, Edinburgh, in 1833. In 1941, the company's branch in
Greenock
Greenock (; sco, Greenock; gd, Grianaig, ) is a town and administrative centre in the Inverclyde council areas of Scotland, council area in Scotland, United Kingdom and a former burgh of barony, burgh within the Counties of Scotland, historic ...
was destroyed in the
Greenock Blitz.
In January 1998, the company closed its principal branch in Edinburgh, although the head office continued to occupy the building. The whole retail operation was sold to
WH Smith in May 1998, to enable Menzies to concentrate on its distribution business.
In January 2007, the company merged its newspaper and magazine wholesale distribution businesses in Northern Ireland into a joint venture with
Eason & Son, which became known as
EM News Distribution EM News Distribution is a magazine and newspaper distributor which operates in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. The company is fully owned by Menzies Distribution.
The company was formed in 2007 by the merger of the Menzies Distributio ...
; the company acquired the 50% it did not own in May 2017.
On 31 January 2017, Menzies Aviation completed the acquisition of specialist aircraft fueller Aircraft Services International, Inc (ASIG) from BBA Aviation plc for US$202m. After a planned merger between the Menzies Distribution and the DX Group collapsed in August 2017, the company announced, in July 2018, that it had sold the distribution division to private equity company
Endless LLP, with the former owner retaining a 10% share in the business.
On 27 March 2020, the company confirmed it had been badly affected by the
COVID-19 pandemic and reduced its headcount by over 17,500. The number of flights Menzies handled globally fell by 60% during the second quarter 2020.
In April 2022, it was announced Menzies Aviation had acquired the
Santiago-based ground and air cargo handling services company, Agunsa Aviation Services.
On 30 March 2022,
Agility Logistics that it would acquire the company for £571 million and merge it with its existing wholly-owned subsidiary,
National Aviation Services.
Pronunciation
The name
Menzies is traditionally pronounced , as the "z" is historically the letter (
yogh
The letter yogh (ȝogh) ( ; Scots: ; Middle English: ) was used in Middle English and Older Scots, representing ''y'' () and various velar phonemes. It was derived from the Insular form of the letter ''g''.
In Middle English writing, tailed z ...
).
See also
*
Books in the United Kingdom
Notes
References
{{reflist
External links
John Menzies plc company website
British companies established in 1833
Service companies of Scotland
Companies based in Edinburgh
Aircraft ground handling companies
1833 establishments in Scotland
Defunct retail companies of the United Kingdom