Synthomer plc, formerly known as Yule Catto & Co, is a British-based chemicals business. It is 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 ...

History

The company traces its roots back to 1863, when

Andrew Yule Andrew Yule (2 November 1834 – 18 July 1902) was a businessman who founded Andrew Yule and Company Ltd., Andrew Yule and Co. Early life Andrew was born in Stonehaven-Fetteresso Castle, Fetteresso, Scotland, the third and youngest son of Robert ...

founded a trading house known as '' Andrew Yule & Co.'' in

Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...

. At the same time Andrew's brother,

George Yule George Yule may refer to: * George Yule (businessman) (1829–1892), Scottish merchant and politician in India * George Yule (linguist) (born 1947), British linguist * George Udny Yule George Udny Yule, CBE, FRS (18 February 1871 – 26 J ...

, set up ''George Yule & Co.'' in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, which acted as British agency arm of Andrew Yule & Co. When in 1919 Andrew Yule & Co. and George Yule & Co. were sold to the US banking group J.P. Morgan & Co. and its British merchant banking affiliate Morgan Grenfell & Co., both were turned from a

partnership A partnership is an agreement where parties agree to cooperate to advance their mutual interests. The partners in a partnership may be individuals, businesses, interest-based organizations, schools, governments or combinations. Organizations ...

into a

private limited company A private limited company is any type of business entity in Privately held company, "private" ownership used in many jurisdictions, in contrast to a Public company, publicly listed company, with some differences from country to country. Example ...

. That same year Thomas Catto (1879–1959) was sent to India to take over management of the firm from Sir David Yule (1858–1928), a nephew of Andrew Yule. David Yule continued to hold the title of Chairman but had no active part in the operations of the business. In 1920, Thomas Catto and David Yule changed the name of the British purchasing arm of Andrew Yule & Co., George Yule and Company, to ''Yule, Catto & Company Ltd.''Jones, p.325 Due to increased taxation, the devaluation of the

Indian rupee The Indian rupee (symbol: ₹; code: INR) is the official currency of India. The rupee is subdivided into 100 '' paise'' (Hindi plural; singular: ''paisa''). The issuance of the currency is controlled by the Reserve Bank of India. The Reserve ...

and the abolition of the managing agency system, Yule, Catto & Co. decided in 1969 to sell its shareholding in Andrew Yule & Co. to the Indian government.Jones, p. 297 With the acquisition of ''Revertex Chemicals'' in 1980, Thomas Catto's son,

Stephen Stephen or Steven is an English given name, first name. It is particularly significant to Christianity, Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; he is w ...

(1923–2001) started to turn Yule Catto & Co. into an international speciality chemicals and building products manufacturer. Since 2007 the group has been transformed from a diversified chemical business to a focussed speciality polymer business. In 2012 the company changed its name to Synthomer on the basis that the majority of its business already traded under that name. OMNOVA-Synthomer thumbnail IMG 1537

In July 2019, Synthomer announced that it was going to buy OMNOVA Solutions for an enterprise value of $824 million; the transaction was completed on 2 April 2020. In October 2021, Synthomer announced the acquisition of

Eastman Chemical Eastman Chemical Company is an American company primarily involved in the chemical industry. Once a subsidiary of Kodak, today it is an independent global specialty materials company that produces a broad range of advanced materials, chemicals an ...

adhesive activities for $1 billion. It included a former

Hercules Hercules (, ) is the Roman equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, son of Jupiter and the mortal Alcmena. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures. The Romans adapted the Gr ...

factory with 230 employees in

Middelburg Middelburg may refer to: Places and jurisdictions Europe * Middelburg, Zeeland, the capital city of the province of Zeeland, southwestern Netherlands ** Roman Catholic Diocese of Middelburg, a former Catholic diocese with its see in the Zeeland ...

the Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

, that produced about 80 different

synthetic resin Synthetic resins are industrially produced resins, typically viscous substances that convert into rigid polymers by the process of curing. In order to undergo curing, resins typically contain reactive end groups, such as acrylates or epoxides. ...

s. They delivered, partly in 20

tonne The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1,000 kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton in the United States to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the s ...

bulk, to companies in over 70 countries. Factory Hercules saves the environment, US Ambassador opens new resin production unit in Middelburg.

Operations

The company has three activities: polymer chemicals, pharma chemicals and impact chemicals.

References

Sources

External links

Official site
{{Authority control Companies based in Essex 1863 establishments in England Harlow Chemical companies of the United Kingdom Trading companies Companies listed on the London Stock Exchange Specialty chemical companies Companies based in London Chemical companies established in 1863 Companies established in 1863 *