Metal Industries, Limited was a conglomerate of mostly British engineering companies. It was founded in Glasgow in 1922[1] by Robert Watson McCrone.[2] In 1953 its activities were described as "electrical and mechanical engineering manufacture and metal trading"[3] In 1967, Aberdare Holdings of South Wales acquired a controlling interest in the group,[4] but was quickly thwarted when M.I. created a large tranche of new shares which it sold to Thorn Electrical Industries, giving Thorn overall control of the company.[5] 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.[6] 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,[7] when it merged with the George Cohen 600 group to become Six Hundred Metal Holdings.[8] In 1976, Thorn sold its interest in the group to the government-owned British Steel Corporation.[9]

Timeline of acquisitions, mergers, sales and closures

Chairmen

Notable salvage operations

References

  1. ^ "Company Meeting", The Times, Sept 13, 1951, p.8
  2. ^ "Obituary: Robert Watson McCrone", The Times, Apr 10, 1982, p.10
  3. ^ Classified Advertisement, The Times, November 12, 1953, p.2
  4. ^ The Times, July 13, 1967, p.19
  5. ^ The Times, July 17, 1967, p.17
  6. ^ "City panel rejects need for market supervision", The Times, Jan 29, 1975, p.21
  7. ^ "Thorn" (advertisement), The Times, Aug 11, 1970, p.18
  8. ^ "Metal pair-up by '600' and Thorn", The Times, Apr 14, 1970, p.29
  9. ^ "BSC pay £3.75m for one-third interest in scrap processor", The Times, July 31, 1976, p.19
  10. ^ Frank C Bowen, "The Shipbreaking Industry", naval-history.net, accessed 2012-04-11
  11. ^ "Metal Industries", Grace's Guide, accessed 2012-04-11
  12. ^ Buxton 2019, p. 110
  13. ^ a b "City Notes". The Times. July 29, 1935. p. 18.
  14. ^ "City News in Brief", The Times, May 18, 1940, p.10
  15. ^ "Company Results", The Times, Dec 12, 1941, p.9
  16. ^ "City News in Brief", The Times, Apr 14, 1941, p.7
  17. ^ "Company Meetings", The Times, Sept 20, 1946, p.9
  18. ^ "Company Meetings", The Times, Aug 31, 1949, p.9
  19. ^ a b "Company Meetings", The Times, Sept 4, 1952, p.7
  20. ^ "Metal Industries expansion", The Times, Jan 21, 1955, p.12
  21. ^ "Metal Industries Limited" (advertisement), The Times, Aug 16, 1960, p.13
  22. ^ "Business Changes", The Times, Jan 27, 1961
  23. ^ Chairman's statement (advertisement), The Times, Aug 2, 1961, p.15
  24. ^ "M.I. drive in Europe", The Times, Jan 24, 1964, p.20
  25. ^ "Metal Ind. expands in Europe", The Times, July 2, 1965, p.23
  26. ^ The Times, Sep 23, 1966, p.19
  27. ^ Chairman's statement (advertisement), The Times, Aug 16, 1966, p.13
  28. ^ "A year of unprecedented growth" (Thorn advertisement), The Times, Aug 13, 1968, p.17
  29. ^ The Times, Aug 18, 1964, p.14
  30. ^ "A Salvage Feat", The Times, Sept 3, 1934, p.12
  31. ^ Share prospectus, The Times, July 29, 1935, p.19
  32. ^ "German dreadnought raised", The Times, May 15, 1936, p.9
  33. ^ "Scuttled battleship raised", The Times, May 1, 1937, p.13
  34. ^ "Grosser Kurfurst raised", The Times, Apr 27, 1938, p.20
  35. ^ "Derfflinger salved at Scapa Flow", The Times, July 25, 1939, p.9
  36. ^ Share prospectus, The Times, Apr 9, 1947, p.9
  37. ^ "Hope of salving Finnish ship", The Times, Dec 27, 1952, p.2
  38. ^ a b "Company Meetings", The Times, July 11, 1957, p.17

Bibliography

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