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British-based manufacturer of industrial belting From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Fairfiel Enterprises was a leading British-based machine distributor and supplier of tooling and support services to the printing and packaging industries. The company was taken over in 2000 by the Swiss company Bobst AG, a supplier of machinery and services to the packaging industry.
Industry | Distributor |
---|---|
Founded | 1884 |
Headquarters | Redditch, England, UK |
Key people | James Ramsey Venn (Chairman) (1999) Geoffrey Crossland Darricotte (Chief Executive) (1999) |
Revenue | £ 57.8 million (1999) |
£ 2.9 million (1999) | |
Number of employees | 353 (1999) |
The business was founded in London[1] in 1884 by the Jewish-German immigrant Oscar Friedheim (1858–1928),[2] at first trading in the supply of cardboard and paper. Five years later the company turned to the import and distribution of machinery,[3] starting with a German[4] made card cutting and scoring machine for the production of visiting cards.[5] From there on Oscar Friedheim focused on building up its connections with overseas machine manufacturers in the paper and packaging industry (e. g. Bobst, Faber & Schleicher, Muller Martini and after the Second World War Winkler + Dünnebier).
In 1913 the company was incorporated as a limited company with a nominal capital of £17,000.[6] During The Blitz its head office in Water Lane was hit hard twice. Most of the machinery and the company records got destroyed. Therefor a new provisional office had to be set up at Mill Hill.[7] 1948 Oscar Friedheim Ltd. bought the engineers and sundries business of John Haddon & Co, a London based printing and advertising company.[8]
In 1970 Fairfield Enterprises Ltd. was created as a holding company of Oscar Friedheim Ltd. To extend its business into spare parts Fairfield bought 50% of Lasercomb Dies Ltd. (Redditch) in 1984 and purchased the remaining 50% in 1991.[9]
In August 1997 Fairfield was listed on the London Stock Exchange at 80p per share[9] to raise funds for acquisitions.[10] In 1998 Fairfield bought Palatine Engraving (Leeds)[11] and Kennedy Grinding (London).[12] In 1999 the headquarters of Fairfield Enterprises was moved from London to Redditch.[13]
In 2000 Bobst AG of Switzerland acquired Fairfield Enterprises,[14] paying 200p per Share.[15] Fairfield's activities concerning the distribution of Bobst machinery in the UK and Ireland were renamed Bobst UK Holdings Ltd. The remaining parts of Fairfield, Friedheim International[16] and Lasercomb Group (including Palatine Engraving),[17] were sold to their management in 2005 and 2006 respectively.
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