Swire Group
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| Type | Public (LSE: SWRA, SEHK: 0019 (Share A), SEHK: 0087 (Share B),OTCBB: SWRAY) |
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| Founded | 1816 |
| Headquarters |  London, England, UK |
| Key people | James Hughes-Hallett, Chairman |
| Industry | Aerospace, Property, Shipping, Transport & Agriculture |
| Operating income | £2.65 Billion (2006) |
| Net income | £244 Million (2006) |
| Employees | 113,000 |
| Subsidiaries | Swire Pacific, Cathay Pacific, Dragonair, Haeco, Steamships Trading Company |
| Website | www.swire.com |
The Swire Group (SEHK: 0019,SEHK: 0087,OTCBB: SWRAY) is a transnational corporation headquartered in London, England. It controls a range of wholly owned businesses, including deep-sea shipping, cold storage, road transport, and agricultural activities. The current chairman is James Hughes-Hallett. Taikoo (太古) is the Chinese name of Swire. It serves as the brand name for businesses such as Taikoo Cube Sugar and Taikoo Shing.
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[edit] History
The Swire Group's privately owned parent company is John Swire & Sons Limited. The Swire Group, started by John Swire (1793-1847), had its beginnings as a modest Liverpool import-export company started in the early years of the 19th century. In 1861, John Swire & Sons Limited began to trade with China through agents Augustine Heard & Co. In 1866, in partnership with R.S. Butterfield, Butterfield & Swire was established in Shanghai. Four years later, a Hong Kong branch of Butterfield & Swire was also opened.[citation needed]
Four years after the establishment of the People's Republic of China, Butterfield & Swire closed all of its China offices. In 1974, Butterfield & Swire in Hong Kong was renamed John Swire & Sons (H.K.) Ltd.[citation needed]
[edit] The Group's businesses
The Swire Group's core businesses in Hong Kong are held by the publicly quoted Swire Pacific Limited. The Group's core businesses are grouped into: property, aviation, beverages, marine services, and trading and industrial. Swire Pacific Limited is listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange as Swire Pacific Limited SEHK: 0019 (A-shares) SEHK: 0087 (B-shares). Swire Pacific is the largest shareholder of Cathay Pacific, Hong Kong's largest airline.
Swire Properties is one of the largest property developers in Hong Kong.[citation needed] The company owns and manages several major shopping malls, including Festival Walk and Cityplaza. It has developed a number of well known residential and commercial complexes in Hong Kong, such as Pacific Place, Taikoo Place and Taikoo Shing.
Swire Pacific Offshore Holdings Limited (SPO) is the wholly owned subsidiary of Swire Pacific and charters vessels that support the offshore oil and gas industry worldwide. Swire Pacific Offshore owns a fleet of 69 offshore vessels.[1] The China Navigation Co. Ltd is the deep-sea shipping arm of John Swire & Sons Ltd.
Swire is an anchor bottler in the Coca-Cola System. It is the bottler of Coca-Cola and its related products in Hong Kong, Taiwan and most of mainland China, as well as parts of 10 states in the United States, mainly the mountain west region. This territory represents a population of 420 million people.[2]
The company was featured under the pseudonym "Rothwell-Gornt" in James Clavell's novel Noble House, which is a thinly disguised fictional account of the rivalry between Swire Group and Jardine Matheson, another Hong Kong trading house.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ "Annual Report 2008". Swire. p. 39. http://www.swirepacific.com/eng/ir/reports/ar08.pdf.
- ^ "Business Activities - Beverages Division". Swire. http://www.swire.com/eng/activities/hk_beverages.htm. Retrieved 2009-04-02.
[edit] External links
- Swire Group
- Swire Pacific Limited
- Swire Properties Limited
- Swire Shipping
- Swire Memorial House at Yokohama
- Swire Pacific Offshore
- The China Navigation Co. Ltd.
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