Carbo PLC - Introduction

Introduction

Trafford Park Road, Trafford Park
Manchester
M17 1HP
United Kingdom
Telephone: +44 161 872 8291
Fax: +44 161 872 1471
Web sites: http://www.angloabrasives.com http://www.carbogb.co.uk

Public Company
Founded: 1891 as Carborundum Company
Employees: 838
Sales: £53 million ($96.9 million) (2003)
Stock Exchanges: London
Ticker Symbol: CAB.L
NAIC: 327910 Abrasive Product Manufacturing; 335314 Relay and Industrial Control Manufacturing

Carbo PLC, through subsidiary Carborundum Abrasives GB Ltd., is one of the world's leading manufacturers of abrasives products. The company focuses on high-specification abrasives for the professional sector, leaving the consumer do-it-yourself (DIY) market to competitors such as Saint-Gobain's Norton. Carbo produces a full range of bonded, and coated, abrasives, as well as high-performance superabrasives. The company's production takes place in Manchester, England, as well as in company-owned sites in Germany. Carbo is also one of the leading distributors of its own and others' abrasives products in the United Kingdom through subsidiaries Anglo-Abrasives and Abrafract. The company operates a countrywide network of distribution centers, ranging from Glasgow to Newton Abbot in far south England, and including sites in Sheffield, Manchester, Nuneaton, Strensham, Worcester, Kingston, Surry, New Milton, and Newton Aycliffe. Carbo has been hit hard by the economic slowdown at the beginning of the 21st century and has been battling losses in the early 2000s. By 2004, however, with sales at £53 million ($96 million), the company started to see signs of a turnaround, as orders began to rise. Carbo PLC is listed on the London Stock Exchange, and is led by Managing Director Lars Nyquist.