Avon Technologies
{{Short description|British manufacturing company}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2017}}
{{Infobox company
| name = Avon Technologies plc
| logo = Avon Technologies logo.png
| logo_size =
| type = Public limited company
| traded_as = {{LSE|AVON}}
| foundation = {{Start date|1885}}
| location = Melksham, Wiltshire, England
| key_people = {{plainlist|
}}
| industry = Manufacturing
| products = Respiratory and Head Protection
| revenue = {{increase}} £275.0 million (2024){{cite web|url=https://www.avon-technologiesplc.com/media/okdnytnl/full-year-results-2024-rns.pdf|title=Annual Report 2024|publisher=Avon Technologies|access-date=10 February 2025}}
| operating_income = {{increase}} £10.7 million (2024)
| net_income = {{increase}} £3.0 million (2024)
| num_employees =
| homepage = {{URL|https://www.avon-technologiesplc.com/}}
}}
Avon Technologies plc is a British company that specialises in the engineering and manufacturing of respiratory protection equipment for military, law enforcement and fire personnel. Its corporate headquarters are {{convert|3|km|mi|abbr=on}} south of Melksham in Wiltshire, England, at the Hampton Park West development. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.
History
The business was established when a former cloth mill, known as Avon Mill, on the banks of the River Avon at Limpley Stoke in Wiltshire, was acquired by Messrs E G Browne and J C Margetson in 1885. The previous owners of the site had been timber merchants but had diversified into rubber goods.{{Cite web|url=https://gracesguide.co.uk/Avon_India_Rubber_Co|title=Avon India Rubber Co|website=Grace's Guide|access-date=12 February 2019}}
File:Avon Rubber Dry Suit Label.jpg label]]
File:Avon Stonehenge Wellington Boot Detail.jpg markings]]
By 1890, the business had transferred to premises in Melksham and was named The Avon India Rubber Company Limited. Products at this time included solid tyres, conveyor belts and components for railways. By 1900, pneumatic tyres for bicycles were being produced, and by 1906 the first car tyres were advertised under the Avon brand. The company acquired the Sirdar Rubber Works at Greenland Mill in Bradford on Avon in 1915.
The company was floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1933. It acquired the rival company of George Spencer, Moulton & Co. in 1956, bringing with it Abbey Mills and Kingston Mills in Bradford on Avon, and a jointly owned plant in Paris. The company name was shortened to Avon Rubber in 1963.{{Cite web |title=Avon Rubber Co |url=https://gracesguide.co.uk/Avon_Rubber_Co |access-date=2023-07-30 |website=Graces Guide}}
In June 1958, an advertisement appeared in the British Sub-Aqua Club journal Triton to publicise the "Typhoon dry diving suit manufactured by the Avon India Rubber Co. Ltd. exclusively for E. T. Skinner Co. Ltd."."The Typhoon Dry Diving Suit", Triton Vol. 3 No. 4 (June/July 1958), p. 30. For many years, Avon Rubber also produced back-entry dry diving suits for military use. The company also moulded lined "Stonehenge" brand Wellington boots at a time when such footwear was manufactured by calendering or dipping processes.{{cite web|publisher=Monopolies and Restrictive Practices Commission|title=Report on the Supply of Certain Rubber Footwear|location=London|year=1956|access-date= 22 February 2019|url=http://www.competition-commission.org.uk/rep_pub/reports/1950_1959/015footware.htm|archive-url=http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20111202181215/http://www.competition-commission.org.uk/rep_pub/reports/1950_1959/015footware.htm|url-status=usurped|archive-date=2011-12-02}}
Production started on a range of inflatable boats in 1959. In 1994 the Llanelli-based marine business Avon Inflatables was split-off and sold; it subsequently became a division of Zodiac Marine, France.{{cite web|url=https://www.insidermedia.com/news/wales/84916-rebrand-avon-inflatables-after-acquisition|title=Rebrand for Avon Inflatables after takeover|publisher=Insider Media|date=14 February 2013|access-date=27 February 2020}}
In 1997 the Avon Tyres business was sold to Cooper Tire & Rubber Company of Findlay, Ohio in the United States, leaving the company to concentrate on its core businesses of automotive components, technical products and protective equipment.{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/02/19/business/cooper-buying-avon-rubber-tire-unit-for-110.4-million.htm|title=Cooper buying Avon Rubber tire unit for $110.4 million|work=New York Times|access-date=27 February 2020}}
In March 2000, Avon moved its activities to a manufacturing and head office facility at Hampton Park West, south of Melksham.{{cite web|url=https://moderngov.microshadeapplications.co.uk/MelkshamTC/documents/b830/Town%20Centre%20Development%20Project%20Report%2025th-Nov-2019%2019.00%20Full%20Council.pdf?T=9|title=Public Document Pack|page=5|publisher=Melksham Town Council|date=18 November 2019|access-date=27 February 2020}}
In June 2005, Avon purchased International Safety Instruments, Inc., based in Lawrenceville, Georgia, USA. Avon-ISI is a manufacturer of self-contained breathing apparatus and thermal imaging systems for fire, law enforcement and industrial applications.{{cite web|url=https://www.european-rubber-journal.com/2005/06/21/avon-acquires-international-safety-instruments|title=Avon acquires International Safety Instruments|publisher=European Rubber Journal|date=21 June 2005|access-date=27 February 2020}}
In August 2006, the Avon Automotive division was sold to a US-based management team and became a separate entity called Avon Automotive Holdings Inc.; this was the largest buy-out in the company's history. The aerosol division was sold for £1.75 million in March 2008 to Avon Group (an unrelated Bristol-based company), enabling Avon Rubber to concentrate on its core protective equipment, dairy and extrusions markets.{{Cite web|url=https://www.rubbernews.com/article/20080225/ISSUE/302259990/crosslinks-to-buy-avon-rubber-unit|title=Crosslinks to buy Avon Rubber unit|last=McNulty|first=Mike|date=25 February 2008|website=Rubber & Plastics News|access-date=13 February 2019}}
In November 2008, the mixing plant at Westbury was sold to ATR Compounding Ltd, a division of SPC UK, a compounder of rubber based in Whitby.{{cite web|url=https://www.wiltshiretimes.co.uk/news/3847827.avon-plant-in-2m-buyout/|title=Avon plant in £2m buyout|date=16 November 2008|publisher=Wilshire Times|access-date=27 February 2020}}
The company, which had a long history of manufacturing respirators – including the S6 NBC Respirator, a gas mask used by the British armed forces from the 1960s, and the S10 from the 1980s – began to supply the M50 mask to United States forces in 2009.{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/markets/questor/12004262/Questor-share-tip-Hold-Avon-Rubber-as-gas-mask-orders-rise-on-risk.html|title=Questor share tip: Hold Avon Rubber as gas mask orders rise on risk|last=Ficenec|first=John|date=18 November 2015|work=Daily Telegraph|access-date=12 February 2019|language=en-GB|issn=0307-1235}}
In January 2020, Avon purchased Ceradyne, Inc.'s advanced ballistic protection business and the Ceradyne brand from 3M.{{cite news|title=Avon Rubber Completes Acquisition of 3M's Ballistic Protection Business|url=https://www.avon-rubber.com/media-centre/press-releases/press-releases1/avon-rubber-completes-acquisition-of-3m-s-ballistic-protection-business/#currentPage=1|access-date=16 October 2020|publisher=Avon Rubber|date=January 2, 2020|archive-date=17 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201017072104/https://www.avon-rubber.com/media-centre/press-releases/press-releases1/avon-rubber-completes-acquisition-of-3m-s-ballistic-protection-business/#currentPage=1|url-status=dead}}{{cite news|title=Avon Rubber Completes Buy of 3M Ballistic Protection Unit|url=https://www.govconwire.com/2020/01/avon-rubber-completes-buy-of-3m-ballistic-protection-unit/|date=3 January 2020|publisher=GovCon Wire}}{{cite news|title=3M's military armor business fetches $91 million in sale|url=https://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/news/2020/01/02/3ms-military-armor-business-fetches-91-million-in.html|access-date=17 October 2020|publisher=Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal|date=2 January 2020}}
In September 2020, the company divested its milking equipment business, milkrite | InterPuls, to DeLaval for net proceeds of around £160{{Nbsp}} million.{{Cite web|date=2 July 2020|title=Agreement to divest milkrite {{!}} InterPuls|url=https://www.londonstockexchange.com/news-article/AVON/agreement-to-divest-milkrite-interpuls/14600257|access-date=2021-07-06|website=London Stock Exchange}} This enabled the company to concentrate on personal protection, both respiratory and ballistic, under the Avon Protection brand. Shortly after, they acquired Team Wendy, a maker of helmets for military and first responder use, for a reported $130{{Nbsp}}million.{{Cite news|last=Lea|first=Robert|date=10 September 2020|title=Acquisitive Avon Rubber adds Wendy to the team|work=The Times|url=https://www.thetimes.com/business-money/markets/article/acquisitive-avon-rubber-adds-wendy-to-the-team-rqwzrm66m|access-date=2021-07-06|issn=0140-0460}}
The company changed its name from Avon Rubber to Avon Protection in July 2021.{{cite news|url=https://www.insidermedia.com/news/south-west/strong-start-as-avon-rubber-reveals-proposed-new-name |title=Strong start as Avon Rubber reveals proposed new name|newspaper=Insider Media|date=21 May 2021|access-date=21 July 2021}}
In December 2021, the company announced it would be closing its body armour business after its bullet-proof vests failed US regulatory tests.{{Cite news|first=Robert |last=Lea|title=Avon Protection to wind down failed body armour business|newspaper=The Times |language=en|url=https://www.thetimes.com/world/us-world/article/avon-protection-to-wind-down-failed-body-armour-business-b2hwdclj0|access-date=2021-12-16|issn=0140-0460}}{{Cite web|last=Fahy|first=Michael|title=Avon Protection to wind down body armour business|url=https://www.investorschronicle.co.uk/news/2021/12/15/avon-protection-to-wind-down-body-armour-business/|url-status=live|website=Investors Chronicle|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211215191951/https://www.investorschronicle.co.uk/news/2021/12/15/avon-protection-to-wind-down-body-armour-business/ |archive-date=15 December 2021 }}
In April 2022 the company warned that the year's profits would miss City forecasts, leading to a share price drop of nearly 20 per cent over the course of a single day.{{Cite news|url=https://www.thetimes.com/business-money/markets/article/avon-protection-takes-a-hit-after-profit-warning-k0c36z7pf|title=Avon Protection takes a hit after profit warning|first=Ben|last=Martin|date=5 June 2023 |via=www.thetimes.co.uk}}
In August 2024 the company changed its name from Avon Protection to Avon Technologies.{{cite news|url=https://www.investegate.co.uk/announcement/rns/avon-protection--avon/change-of-company-name/8343501|title=Change of Company Name|date=1 August 2024|publisher=Investegate|access-date=10 February 2025}}
Notable people
- Robert Fuller, son of George Pargiter Fuller, was managing director in 1927.{{Cite journal|date=1927|title=Obituary: George Pargiter Fuller|url=https://archive.org/details/wiltshirearchaeo441927|journal=Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine|volume=44|pages=[https://archive.org/details/wiltshirearchaeo441927/page/65 65]–66|via=Internet Archive}}
- Charles Floyd (1905–1971), was chairman from 1955 to 1968.Obituary: Mr C. M. Floyd, The Times, 29 June 1971, p. 17.
References
{{Reflist}}
{{FTSE 250 Index constituents}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:Engineering companies of England
Category:Manufacturing companies established in 1885
Category:Tyre manufacturers of England
Category:1885 establishments in England
Category:Companies based in Wiltshire
Category:Defence companies of the United Kingdom
Category:Companies listed on the London Stock Exchange
Category:Formula One tyre suppliers