Into the New Millennium

Avon's strategy during recent years has been to develop the business internationally through new product development, extensive capital investment and appropriate acquisitions. This has also included the disposal of Avon companies which manufactured products which were not considered to be core to the business, enabling proceeds to be invested elsewhere to generate a better return for shareholders.

With this in mind, in February 1997, Avon took the bold decision to announce the sale of its tyre interest to Cooper Tire & Rubber Company of Findlay, Ohio, USA. This was somewhat ironic in that 20 years previously, Avon had taught Cooper Tires how to make radial tyres. Although tyres had been a cornerstone of Avon's history, it was decided to concentrate resources on the Automotive Components (which did not include tyres) and Technical Products divisions where the Board believed there were significant opportunities for profitable growth. The £60m sale was concluded in March 1997 and the company became Cooper-Avon Tyres. The sale included the 35 acre manufacturing site in Melksham and the Avon Sports & Social Club (Melksham House). As part of the deal there was an agreement that Avon Rubber would vacate the Melksham site, which it had owned for more than 100 years, by March 2000.

The Hampton Park West facility under construction

Over the following three years, the relocation plan began which included the building of a new state-of-the-art manufacturing and office building at Hampton Park West on the outskirts of Melksham and a Mixing Unit at nearby Westbury. Both facilities were completed within budget and operational as promised by March 2000. The £19M showcase development at Hampton Park West is now the divisional Headquarters for Avon Technical Products and is still a major employer in Melksham, while the £13m Mixing Plant at Westbury has been designed to provide rubber compounds to all UK and some continental European manufacturing plants and employs approximately 60 people.

An aerial view of the completed building

During this period, Avon's strategy of concentrating on core businesses continued. In August 1997, plans to sell the Kingston Mill site in Bradford on Avon were unveiled. The 5.5 acre site stands opposite the current Corporate Headquarters and had been a rubber manufacturing facility for 144 years, although manufacturing had ceased on the site in 1992. Taywood Homes are the current owners and plans are afoot for major re-development into a business, leisure and housing complex.

In November 1997, Avon purchased Zatec Inc. based in Massachusetts, USA. The company specialises in elastomeric cleaning blades which are supplied to major manufacturers and distributors of photocopiers, printers and fax machines. Avon-Ames in the UK had already been assembling blades in association with Zatec and the move helped to develop Avon's presence in the European and American business machine markets.

In March 1998, the Automotive division purchased Cow Polymers Limited in Croydon for £10.3 million. The company specialised in the design and manufacture of technical rubber mouldings for the automotive industry and the move was aimed at enhancing the European Automotive product range and increasing Avon's share in the air hose market in Europe. Regrettably, however, the impact of the continuing weakness of the euro on the UK's relative competitiveness in Europe resulted in the closure of the plant some two years later when production was transferred to plants at Vannes in France and Rudnik in the Czech Republic.

Into the New Millennium - Part 2

Four days later another major purchase was announced. Avon Technical products acquired Hi-Life Rubber L.L.C., based in Wisconsin, USA, for £22m. This highly successful company was already a major manufacturer and distributor of rubber dairy liners and related products to the North American dairy industry. This move, when combined with existing dairy business in the UK, now positions Avon as a leading manufacturer of rubber dairy liners in the world.

Avon Hi-Life, Wisconsin, USA

In September 1998, the Nylaflow Hose division in Pennsylvania was purchased from DSM Engineering Plastic Products. Nylaflow produced a reinforced plastic hose for use in automotive and industrial markets. Production was moved in the following year to the North American Technical Products in Cadillac.

The fire at Albion destroyed the entire factory, but less than 3 weeks production was lost

In April 1999, the Automotive division's Albion plant in North America caught fire. Within hours, the timber section of the 80,000 sq ft Gasket manufacturing facility had been razed to the ground. The unit is vital to the automotive industry in North America and failure to supply was not an option. Therefore, production was moved to other US plants and a single press was reconstructed from memory and replicated. 16 days later, most of the 27 presses had been rebuilt and by the following Monday it was "business as usual" and the potentially devastating crisis had been averted.

In July 1999, Avon announced the purchase of two Spanish companies, Industrial Flexo S.A. and Proflex S.A for £17m. The purpose of the acquisition was to consolidate Avon's position as a leading supplier of low-pressure hoses to the European Automotive market. Coolant hose production was already increasing in Portugal and the Czech Republic, providing new customers, new technologies, and a strong European management team.

The Technical Products division, in line with the strategy of concentrating on core businesses, sold the UK flexible fabrications business to Checkmate UK Ltd in September 1999 for a consideration of £700,000. A month later, CQC PLC was sold to a new company, Crossco (430) Ltd, which had been formed by three existing Directors of the company. Based in Devon, this profitable company manufactures a wide range of advanced textile based clothing and personal protection equipment for armed forces.

The impressive new mixing facility at Westbury, UK

Into the New Millennium - Part 3

In March 2000, as promised, Avon vacated the Cooper-Avon Tyres site in Melksham as the new facility on the outskirts of Melksham and the Mixing Plant at Westbury became fully operational.

The Defence division of Avon Technical Products celebrated its move to the new headquarters with the award of Phase 1 of the Joint Service General Purpose Mask (JSGPM) contract to supply military respirators to the entire US army, navy, airforce and marines. The contract was completed so successfully that Avon recently secured Phase 2 which will require the manufacture of up to 3 million masks from the year 2006.

In September 2001, Avon announced the sale of its Automotive Rubber & Plastics businesses based in Lockport and Albion. These businesses supply moulded components for the automotive market which were not considered among the core products upon which Avon wished to concentrate. For the same reason, Nylaflow, the reinforced plastic hose business in Cadillac and the golf grips business in Manton, Michigan were also sold.

In November 2003, Avon Technical Products announced the disposal of the French subsidiary, Avon Spencer Moulton SA to NOVA Participations SAS for a total cash consideration of €4.7 million.