IMI plc (), formerly Imperial Metal Industries, is a British-based engineering company headquartered in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...

, 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 250 Index.

History

The company was founded by Scottish entrepreneur George Kynoch who opened a

percussion cap The percussion cap or percussion primer, introduced in the early 1820s, is a type of single-use percussion ignition device for muzzle loader firearm locks enabling them to fire reliably in any weather condition. This crucial invention gave rise ...

factory in

Witton, West Midlands Witton is an inner city area in Birmingham, England, in the metropolitan county of the West Midlands. It was within the ancient parish of Aston in the Hemlingford hundred of the historic county of Warwickshire. It is known as the home of Ast ...

in 1862, trading as ''

Kynoch Kynoch was a manufacturer of ammunition, later incorporated into ICI but remaining as a brand name for sporting cartridges. History The firm of Pursall and Phillips operated a 'percussion cap manufactory' at Whittall Street, in Birmingham, i ...

''. The business soon diversified, manufacturing goods ranging from soap and bicycle components to non-ferrous metals, but by the early 20th century it had developed particular expertise in metallurgy. After World War I it merged with Nobel Industries. In 1926 the company acquired

Eley Brothers Eley Limited is a British manufacturer of firearms cartridges. Historically the company has produced a broad variety of ammunition, but today specialises in .22 Long Rifle cartridges for competitive target shooting. At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, si ...

, an ammunition business. The company, by then known as ''Nobel Explosives'', was one of the four businesses that merged in 1927 to create Imperial Chemical Industries. The Witton site became the head office of ICI Metals. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

the Witton site was used for the development and production of uranium for the

Tube Alloys Tube Alloys was the research and development programme authorised by the United Kingdom, with participation from Canada, to develop nuclear weapons during the Second World War. Starting before the Manhattan Project in the United States, the ...

project. In the 1950s the company's researchers perfected the process for producing

titanium Titanium is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ti and atomic number 22. Found in nature only as an oxide, it can be reduced to produce a lustrous transition metal with a silver color, low density, and high strength, resista ...

on a commercial basis. In 1958 ICI Metals bought 50% of Yorkshire Imperial Metals: it acquired the other 50% four years later. The name ''Imperial Metal Industries Limited'' (IMI for short) was adopted on the 100th anniversary of the firm in 1962. The company was listed on the

in 1966. Initially ICI retained a majority holding, but in 1978 IMI became fully independent. In the 1990s the Company disposed of its more basic businesses such as metal smelting and metal founding. In 2003, IMI moved from the Witton site to new headquarters close to

Birmingham Airport Birmingham Airport , formerly ''Birmingham International Airport'', is an international airport located east-southeast of Birmingham city centre, west-northwest of Coventry slightly north of Bickenhill village, in the Metropolitan Borou ...

. The company announced in October 2013 that a decade-long programme of transformation had been completed with the disposal of two non-core subsidiaries to

Berkshire Hathaway Berkshire Hathaway Inc. () is an American multinational conglomerate holding company headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, United States. Its main business and source of capital is insurance, from which it invests the float (the retained premiu ...

for £690m. The disposal of the Cornelius Group, a beverage-dispensing machine business, together with the disposal of a marketing intelligence business, would enable the company to focus on its control valve making business. In November 2022, it was announced IMI had acquired the

Blackburn Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the Ribble Valley, east of Preston and north-n ...

-based smart thermostatic control manufacturer, Heatmiser, for £110 million.

Business platforms

Former IMI entrance, Perry Barr - geograph

The company now has three business divisions: *Critical engineering *

Precision engineering Precision engineering is a subdiscipline of electrical engineering, software engineering, electronics engineering, mechanical engineering, and optical engineering concerned with designing machines, fixtures, and other structures that have exce ...

*Hydronic engineering

References

External links

*
An Unofficial History of Kynoch Works
{{Authority control Aircraft component manufacturers of the United Kingdom British companies established in 1862 Companies listed on the London Stock Exchange Engineering companies of the United Kingdom Firearm manufacturers of the United Kingdom Manufacturing companies based in Birmingham, West Midlands Metal companies of the United Kingdom 1862 establishments in England Manufacturing companies established in 1862