James Hardie
| James Hardie Industries plc
|
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| legal form | Public Limited Company |
| ISIN | AU000000JHX1 |
| founding | 1888 |
| Seat |
Dublin , Ireland
|
| management | Jack Truong ( CEO ) |
| Number of employees | 4916 |
| sales | 2.5 billion AU $ (~ 1.6 billion euros ) |
| Branch | Building suppliers |
| Website | www.jameshardie.com.au |
| As of March 31, 2019 | |
James Hardie is an Irish building elements manufacturer with an Australian history and legal headquarters in Dublin . The company specializes in the manufacture and sale of facade cladding made from fiber cement .
history
The company dates back to 1888 when the native Scotsman James Hardie moved to Melbourne and started an import business. From 1892 Hardie's compatriot Andrew Reid, who also emigrated, took part in the company. During Hardie's trip to London in 1903, he became interested in the uses of fiber cement in the construction industry. As a consequence, Hardie decided to import fiber cement products from Europe. James Hardie retired from business in 1911 and sold his stake in the company to Andrew Reid, who became the sole owner of the company. Reid's heirs ran the company until 1995. As early as 1951, shares of James Hardie Industries Ltd were traded on the Australian Stock Exchange . The product portfolio was expanded over several decades, but retained its focus on asbestos-based fiber cement products. With an annual turnover of the equivalent of 1.49 billion US dollars in 2014, James Hardie Industries was the world's largest manufacturer of fiber cement at the time. In 2017, it was decided to take over the gypsum fiber board manufacturer Fermacell. The purchase price for the former Xella subsidiary was around 470 million euros.
From 2001 the headquarters of the group was located within the European Union. For reasons of tax relief, the company James Hardie Industries NV was founded with headquarters in the Netherlands. After changes to the tax treaty between the United States and the Netherlands, the seat was moved to Ireland. The Australian subsidiary James Hardie Australia Pty Ltd is based in Sydney . Manufacturing facilities are operated in Australia, New Zealand, the United States and the Philippines.
Sales of products containing asbestos
In 2004, James Hardie Industries in Australia was fined around 2.5 billion euros in compensation for the longstanding use of asbestos in its products. The competent court saw it as proven that James Hardie Industries is partially responsible for the cancer of 30,000 people. As a result of the production and processing of asbestos-containing products, it was primarily company workers, plumbers and homeowners who fell ill. According to Deutschlandradio , three times as many people die each year in Australia from complications from handling asbestos, such as asbestosis and lung cancer, than from car accidents (as of 2019).
In 2009, the Australian journalist Matt Peacock published the book Killer Company: James Hardie Exposed , in which he writes, among other things, about James Hardie's misconduct in educating the population. The book was made into a film with the Australian docudrama miniseries Devil's Dust in 2012.
Individual evidence
- ↑ James Hardie: 2019 Annual Reports (Australian filings) , accessed September 13, 2019
- ↑ James Hardie: About James Hardie , accessed September 13, 2019
- ↑ juve.de: Market entry: Building materials company James Hardie buys Xella subsidiary with DLA Piper , accessed on September 13, 2019
- ↑ James Hardie: Terms of Use , accessed September 13, 2019
- ↑ James Hardie: Company History , accessed September 13, 2019
- ↑ Deutschlandfunk Kultur: The Consequences of Australia's Building Boom: Death from Asbestos , accessed on September 13, 2019