Murex Limited was a leading

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provider of services to metallurgists, smelters and refiners, and welders. It was an original constituent of the

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index of leading stocks on the

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History

Murex was founded in 1909 as an

iron founder An iron founder (also iron-founder or ironfounder) in its more general sense is a worker in molten ferrous metal, generally working within an iron foundry. However, the term 'iron founder' is usually reserved for the owner or manager of an iron foun ...

and a ferroalloy manufacturer. The company moved to Rainham,

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...

in 1917. In the 1930s, Murex made large quantities of electrodes at their factory in Waltham Cross, and many ships including HMS ''Ark Royal'' and '' Queen Elizabeth 2'' have been welded using Murex equipment. The business was sustained by a high level of activity during

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, but after the war ended, its profits reduced substantially. It fell out of the FT 30 index in 1967 when its share price declined, and it was replaced by

Beechams The Beecham Group plc was a British pharmaceutical company. It was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. Beecham, after having merged with American pharmaceutical company SmithKline Beckman to become SmithKline Beecham, merged with Glaxo W ...

. Welding equipment made by Murex occasionally comes up for sale.

Demise of the business

Murex was acquired by the BOC Group in 1967. In the UK, the rights to the Murex brand were sold to

ESAB ESAB, ''Elektriska Svetsnings-Aktiebolaget'' ( en, Electric Welding Limited company), is an American Swedish industrial company. The ultimate parent company of ESAB is ESAB Corporation, a New York Stock Exchange listed (TickerESAB with its princ ...

. Murex Limited was officially dissolved on 11 June 2013.

References

{{Authority control Manufacturing companies established in 1909 Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1967 Engineering companies of the United Kingdom Defunct manufacturing companies of the United Kingdom Companies formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange Companies based in Essex 1909 establishments in England 1967 establishments in England