Metal Industries, Limited was a conglomerate of mostly British engineering companies. It was founded in Glasgow in 1922 [1] by Robert Watson McCrone. [2] In 1953 its activities were described as "electrical and mechanical engineering manufacture and metal trading" [3] In 1967, Aberdare Holdings of South Wales acquired a controlling interest in the group, [4] but was quickly thwarted when M.I. created a large tranche of new shares which it sold to Thorn Electrical Industries, giving Thorn overall control of the company. [5] The City Panel on Takeovers and Mergers referred to "abuses and inequities" that occurred during this chaotic takeover, among others at the time, but declined to recommend tougher regulations. [6] A good history of the company's shipbreaking activities was published by the World Ship Society in 1992 in Ian Buxton's "Metal Industries: Shipbreaking at Rosyth and Charlestown".
The subsidiary companies continued to trade as the 'Metal Industries' group of Thorn until 1970, [7] when it merged with the George Cohen 600 group to become Six Hundred Metal Holdings. [8] In 1976, Thorn sold its interest in the group to the government-owned British Steel Corporation. [9]
