Albert E. Reed and Co

June 1953.

of 50 Cannon Street, London

1894 Albert E. Reed set up a newsprint manufacturing plant at Tovil Mill in Kent.

1903 Public company registered on 28 May, to acquire the business of paper manufacturers of the firm of the same name; mills also at Horton Kirby Mills, South Darenth; Wycombe Marsh Mills, High Wycombe; Merton Abbey Mills, Merton.

1928 Began to supply straw paper to Powell, Lane Manufacturing Co of Gloucester to make corrugated paper

1930 Reed acquired the factory that Powell Lane had established at Tovil Mill, formed the Medway Corrugated Paper Co., and established a case making plant next to the mill at Aylesford.

1944 Acquired Powell, Lane Manufacturing Co

1948 Acquired National Corrugated Paper Co of Manchester

Through numerous acquisitions and mergers the company expanded into a wide variety of business activities ranging from paper and packaging, manufacture of building and decorative products and the publishing of newspapers, books and magazines.

1952 Group consisted of:-

• Albert E. Reed and Co
• Medway Corrugated Paper Co
• Brookgate Industries
• Reed Flong
• Powell, Lane Manufacturing Co
• London Paper Mills Co
• Medway Paper Sacks
• National Corrugated Paper Co
• Reed Paper Sales
• E. R. Freeman and Wescott

1953 Reed Paper Group consisted of:

• London Paper Mills Co
• Medway Corrugated Paper Co
• Empire Paper Mills
• Medway Paper Sacks
• National Corrugated Paper Co
• Brookgate Industries
• Powell, Lane Manufacturing Co
• E. R. Freeman and Westcott

1954 Acquired Thompson and Norris Manufacturing Co, and Sun Paper Mill Co of Blackburn which supplied most of its output to Thompson's. Reed became the largest supplier of corrugated boxes in the UK; developed weather-proof fibreboard and exclusive linen-grain and coloured finishes to give the cases value in retail display

1956 Acquired Holoplast Ltd, whose factory was on Reed's Aylesford site

1961 Continuing to diversify its product ranges, Reed established a joint venture, Aerlan, with Lantor to research methods of making non-woven fabrics, for use as inter-linings in clothing, using paper-making techniques to speed up production.

1963 Acquired Spicers

1963 Acquired L&P Plastics

1965 Acquired Wall Paper Manufacturers which became part of a newly formed Decorative Products Division together with Crown and later Polycell. International Publishing Corporation's holding in the company reduced to 28.5 percent

c.1966 Albert E. Reed and Co changed the name of all of its paint brands to Crown Paints alongside its Crown Wallpapers products.

1970 Hoechst bought Berger, Jenson and Nicholson in association with Reeds

1970 Reed Group acquired International Publishing Corporation; changed its name to Reed International

Reed International subsequently reorganised its portfolio in order to concentrate on its publishing and information businesses

1987/8 Completed the disposal of all the manufacturing operations.

1993 Reed International PLC and Elsevier NV merged to form Reed Elsevier which operate through two jointly owned companies: Reed Elsevier Group plc (which owns the publishing and information businesses); and Elsevier Reed Finance BV (which owns the financing activities).

1993 Sold Spicers to D. S. Smith

See Also

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Sources of Information

• Reed Elsevier [1]