Rozalex was a brand of Rozalex Limited, a subsidiary of the

Chloride Electrical Storage Company The chloride ion is the anion (negatively charged ion) Cl−. It is formed when the element chlorine (a halogen) gains an electron or when a compound such as hydrogen chloride is dissolved in water or other polar solvents. Chloride salts ...

credited with being the first company in the United Kingdom to commercialise topical

barrier cream A barrier cream is a topical formulation used in industrial applications and as a cosmetic to place a physical barrier between the skin and contaminants that may irritate the skin (contact dermatitis or occupational dermatitis). There are many o ...

for use in an industrial setting. The cream was originally developed for use in their

Exide Exide was originally a brand name for batteries produced by The Electric Storage Battery Company and later became Exide Corporation doing business as Exide Technologies, an American multinational lead-acid batteries manufacturing company. It ...

works at Clifton Junction near

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

. Battery manufacture was labour-intensive and used hazardous materials, so skin irritation and

contact dermatitis Contact dermatitis is a type of acute or chronic inflammation of the skin caused by exposure to chemical or physical agents. Symptoms of contact dermatitis can include itchy or dry skin, a red rash, bumps, blisters, or swelling. These rashes are ...

was rife among workers. Chloride began research and development of a barrier cream which could help protect workers and increase productivity.

Company history

The company was founded in 1929 as a spin-off of The Chloride Electrical Storage Co. Ltd. In 1969,

Newton, Chambers & Company Newton, Chambers & Co. was one of England's largest industrial companies. It was founded in 1789 by George Newton and Thomas Chambers. History George Newton and Thomas Chambers were partners in the Phoenix foundry at Snow Hill, Sheffield an ...

acquired Rozalex Limited and the brand sat along other household names such as IZAL and Zalpon. In 1972, Newton, Chambers & Co was subsequently acquired by the Central & Sheerwood Trust an Investment banking and financial services group. In 1973, Central & Sheerwood Trust sold the IZAL operation which included Rozalex to

Sterling Winthrop Sterling Drug was an American global pharmaceutical company, also known as Sterling Winthrop, Inc. in its last years (after the merger with Winthrop-Stearns Inc. which itself resulted from the merger of ''Winthrop Chemical Company Inc.'' and '' ...

's, Sterling Industrial. In 1981, Sterling Industrial acquired the Kerodex range of industrial barrier creams and merged them into the Rozalex Range. In 1987,

Unilever Unilever plc is a British multinational consumer goods company with headquarters in London, England. Unilever products include food, condiments, bottled water, baby food, soft drink, ice cream, instant coffee, cleaning agents, energy drink, t ...

acquired Sterling Industrial in a strategic move to push into the Business to Business hygiene, janitorial and floor care sectors. In 2002, Unilever sold the main equity share of its Business to Business division (Lever Industrial-DiverseyLever) to

SC Johnson S. C. Johnson & Son, Inc. (commonly referred to as S. C. Johnson) is an American multinational, privately held manufacturer of household cleaning supplies and other consumer chemicals based in Racine, Wisconsin. In 2017, S. C. Jo ...

to form

JohnsonDiversey Diversey Holdings, Ltd. is an American provider of cleaning and hygiene products in the hospitality, healthcare, food and beverage, food service, retail, and facility management sectors. It is also involved with chemicals, floor care machines, to ...

. In 2008, JohnsonDiversey divested the Rozalex brand to Present Value Limited and Rozalex Limited is reinstated.Present Value Press Release

"Acquisition of Rozalex 5th December 2008" In 2010, Rozalex sponsored the

Ginetta G50 The Ginetta G50 is a specialist GT4 class-developed racing car, designed by Ginetta Cars. A road version of the car was planned, but did not enter wide-scale production; instead, the smaller Ginetta G40 was launched. Development In late 2007, ...

car of the Barwell Motorsport team in the 2010 British Touring Car Championship TOCA series driven by Julien Draper. In 2011, Rozalex sponsored the Aston Martin GT4 car of the Barwell Motorsport team in the 2011 British GT Championship driven by Peter Erceg and Tiff Needell. In 2011, Rozalex sponsored the

Greenpower Education Trust The Greenpower Education Trust is a charitable organization, whose objective is to inspire more young people to become engineers by presenting the engineering industry as an interesting and relevant career choice which could help to solve proble ...

promoting sustainable engineering to young people. In 2011, Rozalex teamed up with Goodwood to supply limited edition tins of handcare products for the 2011

Goodwood Revival The Goodwood Revival is a three-day festival held each September at Goodwood Circuit since 1998 for the types of racing cars and motorcycles that would have competed during the circuit's original period—1948–1966. History The first Revival t ...

. In 2012, Present Value divested the Rozalex brand to Hughen Limited. Rozalex is currently a fully trading subsidiary of Hughen Limited. In 2013, Rozalex launched new Pouch Dispensing System (PDS) for the Industrial / Engineering / Automotive / Marine / Construction and Energy sectors.

Notes and references

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