Fisons plc was a British multinational pharmaceutical, scientific instruments and horticultural chemicals company headquartered in

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in Suffolk, England. It is the county town, and largest in Suffolk, followed by Lowestoft and Bury St Edmunds, and the third-largest population centre in East Anglia, ...

, United Kingdom. It was listed on the

London Stock Exchange The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange based in London, England. the total market value of all companies trading on the LSE stood at US$3.42 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Paul's Cath ...

and was once a constituent of the

FTSE 100 Index The Financial Times Stock Exchange 100 Index, also called the FTSE 100 Index, FTSE 100, FTSE, or, informally, the "Footsie" , is the United Kingdom's best-known stock market index of the 100 most highly capitalised blue chips listed on ...

. It was acquired by Rhone-Poulenc in 1995.

History

The business was established by Edward Packard, one of the first to manufacture

superphosphate Superphosphate is a chemical fertiliser first synthesised in the 1840s by reacting bones with sulfuric acid. The process was subsequently improved by reacting phosphate coprolites with sulfuric acid. Subsequently, other phosphate-rich deposits suc ...

derived from

coprolites A coprolite (also known as a coprolith) is fossilized feces. Coprolites are classified as trace fossils as opposed to body fossils, as they give evidence for the animal's behaviour (in this case, diet) rather than morphology. The name i ...

, in 1843.Early history of the company to 1960
at UK Competition Commission, 1960. (PDF) Accessed September 2007 In 1863 he was joined in business by his son, also named

Edward Edward is an English male name. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon name ''Ēadweard'', composed of the elements '' ēad'' "wealth, fortunate; prosperous" and '' weard'' "guardian, protector”. History The name Edward was very popular in Anglo-S ...

, who was instrumental in developing the business and rationalising the United Kingdom's fertiliser industry. The business was incorporated in 1895 under the name of ''Edward Packard and Company Limited''. In 1919 it bought a fertiliser business founded by James Fison of

Thetford Thetford is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Breckland District of Norfolk, England. It is on the A11 road (England), A11 road between Norwich and London, just east of Thetford Forest. The civil parish, coverin ...

in 1808 and in 1929 the parent company's name was changed to ''Packard and James Fison (Thetford) Limited'' to reflect the acquisition. In 1929 the company acquired the fertiliser business of the

Prentice Brothers Prentice Brothers Limited was an English fertiliser manufacturer founded in Stowmarket, Suffolk during the mid-1850s. The company produced a number of "chemical manure" products that used coprolites and rock phosphates among other ingredients. ...

, Stowmarket and the company was again renamed to Fison, Packard & Prentice, Limited. The Company formally changed its name to the shorter ''Fisons Ltd'' in 1942. During the 1950s, Fisons promoted the spraying of crops utilising helicopters. Fisons owned parts of the

Somerset Levels The Somerset Levels are a coastal plain and wetland area of Somerset, England, running south from the Mendips to the Blackdown Hills. The Somerset Levels have an area of about and are bisected by the Polden Hills; the areas to the south ...

, where they extracted

peat Peat is an accumulation of partially Decomposition, decayed vegetation or organic matter. It is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, Moorland, moors, or muskegs. ''Sphagnum'' moss, also called peat moss, is one of the most ...

. In 1970 one of their staff, Ray Sweet, discovered the remains of a

timber trackway Historic roads (or historic trails in the US and Canada) are paths or routes that have historical importance due to their use over a period of time. Examples exist from prehistoric times until the early 20th century. They include ancient track ...

. It has been dated to 3807 or 3806 BC, and is now known as the

Sweet Track The Sweet Track is an ancient trackway, or causeway, in the Somerset Levels, England, named after its finder, Ray Sweet. It was built in 3807 BC (determined using dendrochronology – tree-ring dating) and is the second-oldest timber track ...

. A portion is now in the collection of the

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

. In the early 1980s the company decided to focus on pharmaceutical products and its fertiliser activities were sold to

Norsk Hydro Norsk Hydro ASA (often referred to as just ''Hydro'') is a Norway, Norwegian aluminium and renewable energy company, headquartered in Oslo. It is one of the largest aluminium companies worldwide. It has operations in some 50 countries around th ...

in 1982. In the 1990s Fisons was targeted by the UK

Earth Liberation Front The Earth Liberation Front (ELF), also known as "Elves" or "The Elves", is the collective name for Wiktionary:autonomy, autonomous individuals or covert cells who, according to the ELF Press Office, use "economic sabotage and guerrilla warfare to ...

, who caused nearly $100,000 in damage during a "night of action" in retaliation for Fisons' draining

peat bog A bog or bogland is a wetland that accumulates peat as a deposit of dead plant materials often mosses, typically sphagnum moss. It is one of the four main types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, mosses, quagmire, and muske ...

s in the English countryside. Many years of successful growth were financed by sales of sodium cromoglycate in a variety of formulations used to treat

asthma Asthma is a common long-term inflammatory disease of the airways of the lungs. It is characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction, and easily triggered bronchospasms. Symptoms include episodes of wh ...

and allergies of the eye among several disease areas. However, the loss of lucrative product licences for Opticrom and Imferon in the US in 1991 and the failure of clinical trials for Tipredane, an asthma drug, in 1993 revealed bleak prospects for the business. In early 1995 the Instruments Division was sold to US Thermo Instrument Systems while the

Research and Development Research and development (R&D or R+D), known in some countries as OKB, experiment and design, is the set of innovative activities undertaken by corporations or governments in developing new services or products. R&D constitutes the first stage ...

facilities in

Loughborough Loughborough ( ) is a market town in the Charnwood (borough), Charnwood Borough of Leicestershire, England; it is the administrative centre of Charnwood Borough Council. At the United Kingdom 2021 census, the town's built-up area had a popula ...

and

Rochester, New York Rochester is a city in and the county seat, seat of government of Monroe County, New York, United States. It is the List of municipalities in New York, fourth-most populous city and 10th most-populated municipality in New York, with a populati ...

, with their pipelines were acquired by the Swedish company Astra AB. In late 1995 Fisons was acquired by the United States–based Rhone-Poulenc Rorer, Inc., which in turn was wholly owned by France's chemical giant

Rhône-Poulenc Rhône-Poulenc () was a French chemical and pharmaceutical company founded in 1928. In 1999, it merged with Hoechst AG to form Aventis. As of 2015, the pharmaceutical operations of Rhône-Poulenc are part of Sanofi and the chemicals divisions ...

S.A.

Operations

The company was based in

with Pharmaceutical

, United Kingdom, and

, US, and manufacturing in

Holmes Chapel Holmes Chapel is a village and civil parish in Cheshire, England, north of Crewe and south of Manchester; Swettenham Meadows Nature Reserve lies east of the village and Goostrey lies to the north. The population of the village was 6,700 a ...

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...

. The company's fertiliser factory in Ipswich, built in 1858, was

Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

; it was destroyed in a fire, suspected to be caused by

arson Arson is the act of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, watercr ...

, in 2019.

Sponsorship

Fisons were sponsors of Ipswich Town Football Club from the 1986–87 season through to the 1994–95 season, including the 1991–92 season when they won the Second Division championship and gained promotion to the new

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

References

External links

Sanofi-Aventis
UK home page
Fisons Plc
Entry at Business.com. (Internet Archive Snapshot of 26 May 2011; retrieved January 2017)
360 degree panoramic of the site
by Atlas360. {{Pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry in the United Kingdom Companies based in Suffolk Pharmaceutical companies of the United Kingdom Chemical companies of the United Kingdom Conglomerate companies established in 1843 1843 establishments in England Companies disestablished in 1995 Defunct companies of England British companies established in 1843

History

Operations

Sponsorship

See also

References

External links