Metal Industries, Limited was a conglomerate of mostly British engineering companies. It was founded in Glasgow in 1922 by Robert Watson McCrone. In 1953 its activities were described as "electrical and mechanical engineering manufacture and metal trading" In 1967, Aberdare Holdings of South Wales acquired a controlling interest in the group, but was quickly thwarted when M.I. created a large tranche of new shares which it sold to

Thorn Electrical Industries Thorn Electrical Industries Limited was a British electrical engineering company. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange, but merged with EMI Group to form Thorn EMI in 1979. It was de-merged in 1996 and became a constituent of the FTSE 100 ...

, giving Thorn overall control of the company. 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. 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, when it merged with the George Cohen 600 group to become Six Hundred Metal Holdings. In 1976, Thorn sold its interest in the group to the government-owned

British Steel Corporation British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and cultur ...

Timeline of acquisitions, mergers, sales and closures

* 1922: Formed as Alloa Shipbreaking Co., Rosyth & Charlestown * October 1926: Purchased Rosyth Shipbreaking Co. and gained their leases at HM Dockyard, Rosyth * 1932: Sale of oxygen business to

British Oxygen Company BOC Limited is a British based multinational, industrial gas company. Formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange, since 2006 it has been a subsidiary of Linde plc. History Brin's Oxygen Company was formed in 1886, by two French brothers, ...

* 1935: Metal Industries, Limited converted to public company * 1940: Acquisition of Electrical Switchgear and Associated Industries Ltd. and its subsidiary Brookhirst Switchgear Ltd., Chester * 1941:

Sentinel Waggon Works Sentinel Waggon Works Ltd was a British company based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire that made steam-powered lorry, lorries (steam wagons), railway locomotives, and later, diesel engined lorries, buses and locomotives. History Alley & MacLellan ...

(1936) Limited * 1942: Igranic Electric Co., Bedford * 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 * 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. (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 * 1955: Acquisition of Finney Presses Ltd. * 1956: Sale of Sentinel (Shrewsbury) Limited to

Rolls-Royce Rolls-Royce (always hyphenated) may refer to: * Rolls-Royce Limited, a British manufacturer of cars and later aero engines, founded in 1906, now defunct Automobiles * Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, the current car manufacturing company incorporated in ...

* 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

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 Oxted is a town and civil parish in the Tandridge District, Tandridge district of Surrey, England. It is at the foot of the North Downs, south-east of Croydon, west of Sevenoaks, and north of East Grinstead. Oxted is a commuter town and Ox ...

, Surrey, joint-owned with International Rectifier of California * 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 * 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) Limited * 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 Mattel, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational corporation, multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment company headquartered in El Segundo, California. Founded in Los Angeles by Harold Matson and the husband-and-wife duo of Ruth Handler, ...

-Marden Limited (joint owned) * 1964: Acquisition of 50% of International Rectifier Corporation Italiana S.p.A. * 1965: Acquisition of 50% of International Rectifier Europe S.A. * 1966: Industrial Automation Controls Ltd. (set up to coordinate Brookhirst Igranic and Lancashire Dynamo Electronic Products) * 1966: Disposal of Fawcett Preston * Aug 1967: Acquired by Thorn * 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 Westlake * 1965-? Alexander I. McKenzie

Notable salvage operations

* 1934: ,

Scapa Flow Scapa Flow (; ) is a body of water in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, sheltered by the islands of Mainland, Graemsay, Burray,S. C. George, ''Jutland to Junkyard'', 1973. South Ronaldsay and Hoy. Its sheltered waters have played an impor ...

* 1935: ,

* 1936: ,

* 1937: ,

* 1938: ,

* 1939: ,

* 1947: ,

* 1952: ,

Pentland Firth The Pentland Firth (, meaning the Orcadian Strait) is a strait which separates the Orkney Islands from Caithness in the north of Scotland. Despite the name, it is not a firth. Etymology The name is presumed to be a corruption of the Old Nors ...

* 1952: ,

Ailsa Craig Ailsa Craig (; ) is an island of in the outer Firth of Clyde, west of mainland Scotland, upon which microgranite has long been quarried to make curling stones. The now-uninhabited island comprises the remains of a magmatic pluton formed d ...

"Hope of salving Finnish ship", ''The Times'', Dec 27, 1952, p.2 * 1957: Lona,

Hull Hull may refer to: Structures * The hull of an armored fighting vehicle, housing the chassis * Fuselage, of an aircraft * Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds * Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a sea-going craft * Submarine hull Ma ...

"Company Meetings", ''The Times'', July 11, 1957, p.17 * 1957:

Suez Canal The Suez Canal (; , ') is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, Indo-Mediterranean, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia (and by extension, the Sinai Peninsula from the rest ...

References

Bibliography

* {{Authority control Engineering companies of the United Kingdom Ship breaking