Brambles Limited

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Brambles Limited
Company type Public
ASX:  BXB
formerly ASX:  BIL
Industry Commercial & Professional Services
Founded1875
Headquarters
Sydney
,
Australia
Products Pallets, reusable produce crates, containers
RevenueUS$5.7 billion (2023)
US$1.072 billion (2023)
US$703.3 million (2023)
Number of employees
12,000 (2023)
Website www.brambles.com

Brambles Limited is an Australian company that specialises in the pooling of unit-load equipment, pallets, crates and containers. It is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange.

Contents

History

Brambles traces its history to 1875, when Walter Bramble established a butchery business in Newcastle, the operations of which he gradually expanded into transport and logistics. Brambles was listed on the Australian Securities Exchange in 1954, as W E Bramble & Sons Limited and entered the pallet pooling business in 1958 through the purchase of the Commonwealth Handling Equipment Pool (CHEP), from the Australian Government. This same year the company changed its name to Brambles Industries Limited and moved its head office from Newcastle to Sydney. [1] [2]

In 1970, Brambles entered the waste disposal market with the purchase of the Australian subsidiary of Purle Brothers Holdings. [3] [4] In 1972, Brambles entered the armoured car market in partnership with Brink's. [5] In 1972, Brambles purchased the Port Jackson & Manly Steamship Company. Brambles main interest in the business, was a 50% shareholding in Tidewater Port Jackson Marine, which operated six platform supply vessels. [6] Following a threat by Brambles to withdraw the loss-making Manly ferry service, the Public Transport Commission took over the service in December 1974. [7] In 1975, Brambles formed an 80:20 joint venture with UK company Guest Keen & Nettlefold (GKN) to bring CHEP to the United Kingdom. [2] [8]

In July 1984, Grace Removals was purchased. [9] In 1988, Brambles became the largest private rail wagon operator in Europe acquiring Groupe CAIB of Brussels and Procor's United Kingdom business. [10] [11] [12] In December 1989 equipment hire business Wreckair was purchased. [13]

In 1990 Brambles acquired Econofrieght a Thornaby based heavy haulage company which was one of the biggest heavy haulage company later the business was sold in two different parts light heavy transport to GE Curtis heavy haulage a Cleveland based subsidiary owned by Sarens in 1997 and rest of the business to ALE in 1999 a Hixon based heavy haulage company which was later acquired by Mammoet in 2020. [14] In 1996, Brambles Transport Services was sold to Toll Holdings. [15]

In June 2000, Brambles sold its Eurotainer container business to Ermewa [16] [17] and Brinks Brambles armoured car unit to Chubb Security. [18] [19]

In August 2001, the support services activities of GKN (which included interest in CHEP and Cleanaway) were merged into a separate company, Brambles Industries plc (listed on the London Stock Exchange) which then entered became a dual-listed company with Brambles Industries Limited. [2] [20] [21] In December 2001, the Wreckair equipment hire business was sold to Coates Hire. [22]

In March 2002, the United Transport and Brambles Project Services businesses were sold to Patrick Corporation. [23] In October 2002, the railway leasing business was sold to VTG-Lehnkering. [24] [25] In November 2002 the Brambles Shipping business, including the ships Tasmanian Achiever and Victorian Reliance , was sold to Toll Holdings. [26] [27]

In 2006, the company's Australian waste management business, Cleanaway Australia and its Brambles Industrial Services business were sold to Kohlberg Kravis Roberts. [28] [29] Cleanaway UK was sold to Veolia. [29] [30] Following these divestments, Brambles unified its Australian and British-listed entities into a single entity, Brambles Limited, that was listed on the Australian Securities Exchange in November 2006. [31] [32] [33] Brambles maintained a secondary listing on the London Stock Exchange until March 2010. [34] [35]

In 2008, Brambles acquired LeanLogistics. [36]

In April 2011 it acquired IFCO. [37] In December 2012 it acquired Pallecon. [38] In December 2013, the Recall storage business was spun-off. [39] In February 2016 it acquired BXB Digital. [40]

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References

  1. ↑ Brambles…100 years of transport Network June 1984 pages 49-53
  2. 1 2 3 History Brambles
  3. ↑ Brambles' New Interest Australian Transport September 1970 page 23
  4. ↑ Brambles enter trade waste disposals field Freight & Container Transportation September 1970 page 14
  5. ↑ Brambles in new security company Canberra Times 15 January 1972 page 19
  6. ↑ Brambles as ferry owner? Truck & Bus Transportation December 1971 page 144
  7. ↑ Ferries Taken Over By PTC Electric Traction January 1975 page 11
  8. ↑ History Archived 29 May 2018 at the Wayback Machine GKN Aerospace
  9. ↑ Two giant removalists merge for more impact Freight & Container Transportation July 1984 page 18
  10. ↑ Brambles Tops Europe in Rail Waggons Australian Financial Review 8 January 1988
  11. ↑ Brambles expands in Europe Australian Transport March 1988 page 13
  12. ↑ Wagon hire fleets merge The Railway Magazine issue 1044 April 1988 page 214
  13. ↑ Business Briefs Sydney Morning Herald 7 December 1989 page 31
  14. ↑ Northern legacy Commercial Motor 30 June 2011
  15. ↑ Toll moves into even bigger league with Brambles buy Truck & Bus Transportation August 1996 page 41
  16. ↑ Eurotainer Joint Venture Brambles 14 June 2000
  17. ↑ Containers: Brambles delivers Australian Financial Review 15 June 2000
  18. ↑ Disposal of Australian armoured car business to Chubb Aust Brambles 16 June 2000
  19. ↑ Brambles sheds security business Australian Financial Review 17 June 2000
  20. ↑ Brambles & GKN Form a Leading Global Support Services Group Brambles 19 June 2001
  21. ↑ Completion of Merger Brambles 7 August 2001
  22. ↑ Brambles Sells Wreckair Brambles 18 December 2001
  23. ↑ Brambles Announces sale of United Transport Business Brambles 15 March 2002
  24. ↑ CAIB becomes VTG Rail UK Railway Gazette International October 2002
  25. ↑ History VTG Rail UK
  26. ↑ Sale of Brambles Shipping Brambles 21 October 2002
  27. ↑ "Toll purchases Brambles' cargo ships". Sydney Morning Herald . 1 November 2002.
  28. ↑ Brambles sells Cleanaway Australia and NZ and Industrial Services Australia for $1.8275 billion Brambles 19 June 2006
  29. 1 2 Cleanaway is final Brambles sell-off The Daily Telegraph 1 July 2006
  30. ↑ Brambles completes Cleanaway UK sale Brambles 29 September 2006
  31. ↑ Brambles ditches London listing The Daily Telegraph 30 November 2005
  32. ↑ Information Memorandum Unification Proposal Brambles 31 October 2006
  33. ↑ Admission to Official List Australian Securities Exchange 27 November 2006
  34. ↑ Brambles Limited Cancellation of Secondary Listing on London Stock Exchange Brambles 19 November 2009
  35. ↑ Notice of Cancellation of Listing from the Official List London Stock Exchange 22 March 2010
  36. ↑ Brindley, Chaille (1 May 2012). "CHEP and IFCO Systems Integration: Brambles Unveils Growth and Business Strategy Plans at Investors Conference". Pallet Enterprise. Retrieved 16 October 2014.
  37. ↑ Brambles to strengthen position as a global leader in pooling solutions through ₤923 million of IFCO Systems Brambles 19 November 2010
  38. ↑ Brambles to strengthen global container business through acquisition of Pallecon Brambles 17 December 2012
  39. ↑ Recall Demerger Scheme Effective Brambles 9 December 2013
  40. ↑ Brambles push into big data with BXB Digital in chase for internet of things Sydney Morning Herald 21 February 2016
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