Company type | Subsidiary |
---|---|
Industry | Healthcare |
Founded | 1999 |
Defunct | 2010 |
Fate | Acquired by and folded into Reckitt |
Headquarters | London, UK |
Products | Durex Scholl |
Revenue | £642.4 million (2009) [1] |
£89.5 million (2009) [1] | |
£55.5 million (2009) [1] | |
Parent | Reckitt |
Website | www.reckitt.com |
SSL International plc was a British manufacturer of healthcare products. Its best known brands were Durex and Scholl; other significant brands were Sauber and Mister Baby. The company's name was an abbreviation of Seton Scholl London International, its predecessor businesses. The company was founded in 1929 and was listed on the London Stock Exchange. In November 2010, SSL International was folded into Reckitt.
Dr. Scholl's was founded in 1906, by Chicago-based podiatrist William M Scholl. Opening its first shop in London in 1913, after the death of Dr Scholl it was listed publicly on the New York Stock Exchange in 1972, and became a member of the Fortune 500. Bought by Schering-Plough in 1978, the company sold the global brand and non-North American operations to Basingstoke-based home appliance electrical manufacturer European Home Products in 1984. [2]
The London Rubber Company was founded in 1915 by LA Jackson, selling imported condoms and barber shop supplies. Subsequently renamed London International Group (LIG) plc, it developed a consumer based product portfolio, spanning health and beauty products including Durex, medical markets with Regent surgical gloves, and business-to-business with Marigold Industrial Gloves. [3]
Seton Healthcare plc was founded in 1952 by Ivor Stoller, selling tubular bandages. The company floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1990 and, in 1992, it added over the counter consumer drugs to its portfolio when it bought Blackburn-based patent medicines maker Cupal - and with it brands including Cuprofen, Full Marks Mousse and Meltus - for the equivalent of $12.4 million, as well as acquiring the rights to manufacture and market Betadine antiseptics. [4]
In July 1998, Scholl and Seton merged to become Seton Scholl plc. In 1999, Seton Scholl and LIG merged to become Seton Scholl London International Group plc, shortened to SSL International. [5] The integration of these two businesses was led by Stuart Wallis, the first chairman of SSL, who left the company in 2001. [6]
From 2002 to 2004 the company disposed of its medical and industrial products to focus on its two main brands as part of a "strategic repositioning". The first major diversification was of 21 OTC brands to Thornton & Ross Limited in March 2002. [7] Marigold Industrial Gloves was sold to Comasec SAS in November 2003. [8] The wound management products were sold to Medlock Medical Limited (owned by Apax Partners) in May 2004. [9] Regent Infection Control (makers of Biogel surgical gloves and Hibi antiseptics) was also sold to a business owned by Apax Partners in May 2004 for £173 million. [10] The final sale was of the minor Silipos business to Langer Inc in October 2004. [11]
In November 2007 the company acquired Orthaheel, an Australian business selling insoles designed and marketed by podiatrist Phillip Vasyli. [12] In 2008, the company acquired Crest Condoms, a Swiss based condom brand. [13]
By the beginning of 2010, the company was listed on the FTSE 250, and had a commercial presence in over thirty countries, and manufacturing plants in the United Kingdom, Spain, China, India, Thailand and CIS. In July 2010, SSL agreed to be bought by household products company Reckitt in a £2.5 billion deal. [14] The takeover was completed in November 2010 and SSL was then folded into Reckitt. [15]
K-Y Jelly is a water-based, water-soluble personal lubricant, most commonly used as a lubricant for sexual intercourse and masturbation. A variety of different products and formulas are produced under the K-Y banner, some of which are not water-soluble.
Durex is a brand of condoms and personal lubricants owned by the British company Reckitt and currently led by Ben Wilson. It was initially developed in London under the purview of the London Rubber Company and British Latex Products Ltd, where it was manufactured between 1932 and 1994. The London Rubber Company was formed in 1915, and the Durex brand name was launched in 1929, although London Rubber did not begin manufacturing own-brand condoms until 1932, in collaboration with a rubber technology student from Poland named Lucian Lundau. The first book on The London Rubber Company and the history of Durex condoms, written by Jessica Borge, was published in September 2020 by McGill-Queen's University Press.
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The history of condoms goes back at least several centuries, and perhaps beyond. For most of their history, condoms have been used both as a method of birth control, and as a protective measure against sexually transmitted infections such as syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydia, hepatitis B and more recently HIV/AIDS. Condoms have been made from a variety of materials; prior to the 19th century, chemically treated linen and animal tissue are the best documented varieties. Rubber condoms gained popularity in the mid-19th century, and in the early 20th century major advances were made in manufacturing techniques. Prior to the introduction of the combined oral contraceptive pill, condoms were the most popular birth control method in the Western world. In the second half of the 20th century, the low cost of condoms contributed to their importance in family planning programs throughout the developing world. Condoms have also become increasingly important in efforts to fight the AIDS pandemic.
Lambertus Johannes Hermanus "Bart" Becht is a Dutch businessman. An executive with more than 35 years of business experience working with consumer brands, Becht is the former Chief Executive Officer of Reckitt, which he led from 1995 to 2011 and former Partner at JAB Holding Company, which he joined in 2012. Becht announced his retirement from JAB in 2019.
Dr. Scholl's is a footwear and orthopedic foot care brand originating in the United States, marketed in some countries as simply "Scholl". Since 2021, global rights to the brand have been owned by investment firm Yellow Wood Partners through subsidiary Scholl's Wellness Company, having purchased the North American rights from Bayer in North America in 2019, and the international rights from Reckitt in 2021.
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Rakesh Kapoor is an Indian businessman. He was, until September 2019, chief executive (CEO) of Reckitt plc, a UK FTSE-listed multinational consumer goods company, a major producer of health, hygiene and home products.
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