New Empires for Imperial

Britain's $1.2 billion Imperial Chemical Industries Ltd., already one of the world's biggest chemical producers, last week announced an expansion program such as Britain has rarely seen. I.C.I. plans to spend $364 million over the next six or seven years to expand present plants or build new ones to make everything from chlorine to nylon and Dacron-like Terylene. London was also buzzing over the company's jump into titanium. I.C.I, will gamble $10 million on a new factory, hoped to move into the market with an initial annual production of 3,000,000 Ibs. of the scarce wonder metal.

From Salt to Zippers. The huge expansion program, to be financed by the biggest industrial bond and stock issue in British history, was typical of I.C.I. The company has been booming from the day it was born in 1926, until now it controls a network of plants and sales offices in 19 countries around the world (more than 100 plants, 110,000 workers in Britain alone), makes 12,000 products from table salt to fertilizer and bulletproof gas tanks. In 1952 the company's gross sales hit $774 million, its gross profits more than $100 million. The tally for 1953 will be even better, enough for a record 15% dividend to I.C.I.'s more than 250,000 stockholders.

I.C.I, has had to grew big. The company was formed out of bitter experience in World War I with the specific job of making Britain self-sufficient in chemicals. At that time, Germany dominated the field. When war started, Britain imported most of its nitrates, had no synthetic nitrate production; its dyestuffs were so poor that the first khaki uniforms soon turned out purple or a bright target yellow. Britain muddled through with U.S. and South American help. But to make sure it would never happen again, I.C.I, was formed in 1926 by merging the four biggest companies -the British Dyestuffs Corp. for dyes, Brunner, Mond & Co. for nitrates and ammonia soda products, United Alkali Co. for alkalis, and Nobel Industries Ltd. for explosives.

By pooling their assets and know-how, the four firms built I.C.I, into an industrial giant by the beginning of World War II, and Britain had most of the chemicals it needed. With the funds and know-how to expand, I.C.I, turned its Billingham plant into the world's biggest chemical complex with 5 square miles of factories spewing out 2,000,000 tons of chemical products a year. Billingham made everything from fertilizers to sulphuric acids, annually turned out 100,000 tons of synthetic high-octane gas from coal and creosote oil. I.C.I.'s alkali division reached bulk production of the plastic polyethylene the day the Nazis marched into Poland. In the metals division, new plants made fuel tanks for planes, periscope tubes for submarines, 60 different types of ammunition. Other divisions boosted production, and I.C.I.'s researchers added their bit with such things as Gamma Benzene Hexachloride, a highly effective insecticide considered better than DDT, and Paludrine, a quinine substitute considered more effective than atabrine.

Too Big to Be Good? Today, Laborites in Britain think I.C.I, has grown too big for its own good and should, of course, be nationalized. Part of the reason is that I.C.I, has always tended towards monopoly and never made any bones about it. Its longtime boss, Lord McGowan (TIME, Jan. 17, 1944), was an outspoken champion of monopoly, and he eagerly made a deal with Du Pont to stay out of the U.S., if Du Pont would stay out of Britain. (After Du Pont and I.C.I. came under antitrust fire in 1944, most of their deals were dropped, others canceled after they were finally convicted in 1951.) By its own admission, I.C.I, now controls almost 100% of British alkali production, has a monopoly in nylon polymer and Nitro-Chalk, produces 60% of all British dyestuffs, and 90% of its chlorine. The critics argue that I.C.I, is too big to be good, can produce or not produce at will, fix prices arbitrarily, that high profits and managerial hardening of the arteries will eventually slow down research and the development of vital new products.

I.C.I, and its current boss, Dr. Alexander Fleck, a dour Scottish chemist who took over the chairmanship last July, think that the argument is poppycock, have recently issued a booklet defending the company's position. Says Fleck: "Private enterprise has . . . enabled our organization to grow in a way which is vigorous, resilient, progressive and effective." He points to the fact that I.C.I, spends $10 million a year on research alone, has upped postwar plastic production 210%, and already has spent almost $400 million for new capital construction in the United Kingdom since 1945. With their new program, Fleck and I.C.I, hope to show that monopoly can keep on growing and still stay healthy enough to do the job Britain expects of its chemical industry.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.