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Early years
The Company began in 1940, as David S. Smith, manufacturing cartons. The business was incorporated in 1960 and was listed on the London Stock Exchange on 3 March 1986.
1980s
The Group grew rapidly during the 1980s with the acquisitions of St Regis Paper Company in 1986 for £83 million and Kemsley Paper Mill in 1988 for £11 million. The initial development into plastic packaging occurred with the purchases of Corrugated Products for £12 million and Waddington & Duval for £2 million.
1990s
Growth continued during the 1990s through a combination of organic development and acquisitions. The Group's largest paper mill, Kemsley, was upgraded between 1993 and 1996 at a cost of £110 million. The £170 million acquisition of Kaysersberg Packaging in 1991 added a continental European presence particularly in heavy duty corrugated packaging. In addition, the Kaysersberg purchase provided a continental position in the plastic packaging market. The Group acquired a leading UK position in the wholesaling of office products in 1993 when it acquired Spicers for £93 million. John Dickinson, a UK manufacturer of envelopes, books and pads, was acquired in 1996.
In 1998, a new conventional corrugated plant was opened at Fordham in the UK.
2000 to today
Paper and Corrugated Packaging:
There has been continuing investment in the Group's corrugated packaging operations and in the associated recycling and paper businesses.
In the UK, there was substantial investment in the heavy duty Tri-Wall corrugated packaging plant at Monmouth and the Lockerbie speciality facility. In 2001, a number of UK corrugated packaging operations, previously owned by Danisco, were acquired for £21 million. The acquisition of Linpac Containers in March 2004 for £167 million made the Group the UK's largest producer of corrugated packaging. Severnside Recycling was enlarged in 2004 through the acquisition of BPB Recycling. In February 2008, the Group acquired New Thames Paper Mill, which is adjacent to St Regis' paper mill at Kemsley in Kent, in order to modify it to produce high-quality lightweight corrugated case material.
On the continent, there has been continuing investment in the French paper and corrugated operations. In Italy, a second corrugated packaging factory at Lari was opened in 2002. The Polish corrugated factory at Kielce was modernised and a new second factory at Kutno was opened in 2005. The Group's activities in central and eastern Europe have been enlarged through acquisitions in Turkey and investment in converting operations in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Lithuania.
Plastic Packaging
The Group's plastic packaging activities were consolidated into a separate division, which is focused on two markets: liquid packaging and dispensing, and industrial returnable transit packaging (RTP). A leading global position in liquid packaging and dispensing has been built through the acquisitions of Packaging Systems LLC (trading under the name Rapak) for £17 million in 2000 and Zewathener GmbH for £17.5 million in 2002. The Group has also established a leading European presence in RTP through organic development and some small acquisitions.
Office Products
In addition to its strong businesses in the UK and Ireland, Spicers built a leading position in the French office products wholesaling market, which was developed further with the acquisition of Plein Ciel in 2001.
Spicers' continental presence was extended into Germany with the opening of distribution centres at Hanover and Nuremberg. Spicers launched its Spanish business in 2002 with a distribution centre at Barcelona, and in November 2004 launched its Italian business with a distribution centre near to Milan. In October 2005, Spicers further extended its European coverage by acquiring Timmermans, the largest office products wholesaler in the Benelux region. The John Dickinson office products manufacturing business was sold in July 2005.
In 2001 the company changed its name from David S. Smith (Holdings) PLC to DS Smith Plc.
In 2007/08, the Group had a turnover of £2.0 billion and it now employs over 11,500 people, of whom approximately 7,500 are in the UK. It also has operations in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Netherlands, Ireland, Poland, Turkey, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Israel, USA, Dominican Republic, Australia and New Zealand and an associate business in the Ukraine.
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