Brochure

1917 - 2007
90 YEARS OF RECYCLING
Cover – A G Sims yard, Albert G Sims, Albert G Sims Jnr, Newport, UK
A G Sims yard, 28 Gladstone St, Newtown, Circa 1932
Albert Sims Jnr
4
7
Foreword
8
History 1917 - 1948
12
History 1948 - 1970
20
History 1970 - 1991
28
History 1991 - 2006
2007 - The Future
52
Acknowledgements
54
Appendices
CONTENTS
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5
SIMSMETAL VENTURE leaving Japan on her maiden voyage to Australia
6
FOREWORD
Like many of today’s great companies, Sims had
humble origins. Albert Sims undoubtedly had
a vision when he started collecting glass bottles
for recycling a few years after arriving in Sydney
from England. It is unlikely, however, that he
would have dreamed that his fledgling business
would grow into a global enterprise, handling
10 million tonnes of recyclables a year and
employing over 3,600 people. But this is the
reality of his legacy – Sims Group Limited today.
Over the years, Sims has explored many
differing business opportunities, with many more
successes than failures. With perseverance, and
perhaps most importantly, a committed,
dynamic (and frequently colourful) workforce,
the world’s only truly global metals recycler has
been created.
On behalf of the Board of Directors, we
hope that you enjoy this descriptive and pictorial
history of the company’s first 90 years. We are
sure that you will be as excited as we are when
contemplating it’s next 90 years of growth and
development.
Jeremy Sutcliffe (left), Group CEO and Paul Mazoudier, Chairman
7
HISTORY 1917 - 1948
Albert George Sims
8
Albert George Sims was born in 1889 in
Paddington, London, son of Samuel Charles
Sims and Henrietta Elizabeth Reynolds, both
of whom were Protestants. When Albert was 24,
he and his wife Agnes, an Irish Catholic, fled to
Australia in 1913 to escape the strict Catholicism
of Agnes’ family, and to try their luck in a new
country.
They landed in Sydney with their 3 year old
daughter Agnes and 22 month old baby son,
Albert Jnr. He had only a few shillings in his
pocket !!!
Albert had plied the lace and drapery trade
through England and France, but as there were
few opportunities for lace making in Australia
in 1913, Albert joined the New South Wales
Department of Railways as a tally clerk and
storeman.
Having forged ties with the Socialist Party
of Great Britain, it was a natural step for Albert
to join the Australian Socialist Party, many of
whose members linked up with the Australian
Labor Party in later years.
A man of firm principles, Albert joined the
Anti-Conscription League, which helped defeat
two referendums designed to send more
Australians to the Western Front in World War I,
after the conscription referendum of 1916 had
split both the
country and the
Labor Party.
In 1917, Albert
was one of the
leaders of a two
month long strike
for better pay
and conditions
on the railways.
The strike began
after the NSW
Department of
Sims with Agnes and baby Albert.
Railways and Tramways introduced a new
card system of recording work times and
performances to the Randwick tramway
workshops and the Eveleigh railway workshops
on 20 July 1917 - a system best known today
as ‘time and motion studies’. After the Conscription crisis split the Labor Party and resulted in
the election of conservative State and Federal
governments, workers (denied recourse to
political solutions), turned to industrial action.
Eventually, the strike was settled on terms
that promised no victimisation. That promise
was not kept and 25,000 railway workers lost
their jobs. Many railway workers were eventually
re-employed but Albert and J J Cahill (who was
later to become Premier of NSW) who had been
marked as “wanted men” when the strike ended,
were not.
Flat broke and with a growing family, Albert
started to collect bottles for recycling. In desperation, he had pawned Agnes’ wedding ring and,
with the proceeds, Albert started to collect scrap
on a bicycle, eventually graduating to a horse
and cart.
That year, and with only £50 (saved from
selling hand carved wooden toys), he officially
started his own scrap collection business with
some of his mates. They rented a vacant block
of land in Newtown.
During the next 10 years, Albert and his
colleagues expanded their business activities,
and in 1929, formed the company, Albert G
Sims Ltd. Horse and cart gave way to motor
vehicles and mechanised equipment.
Albert was a charitable man and, even
though the company expanded exponentially,
he never forgot his humble beginnings. Many a
Newtown family was saved by his anonymous
generosity during the 1929-32 depression.
Locomotive drivers during the 1917 strike.
Source: NSW Government “Photo Investigator”
Original Scrap yard
Original switch room
9
“Albert Sims arrived in Sydney in 1913 with
his wife, daughter and 22 month old son Albert Jnr.
He had only a few shillings in his pocket”
10
In 1937, Albert G Sims became a proprietary
company, still with its headquarters in Newtown.
The company’s main customer base was
manufacturers. Typical of Albert’s drive and
initiative was the decision to do his own smelting.
During the next two years, metal pressing
and baling machines were installed. Shears were
introduced to process the metal into manageable
foundry sizes. A laboratory for chemical analysis
and research was also built.
The original block of land at Newtown was
expanded into two acres.
Sims established branches in all States of
Australia and Albert Jnr, who had now joined
the company, travelled extensively to the UK,
Japan and the US looking at the various ways
that those countries were handling scrap. He
also made sales of Australian scrap. Robert
Menzies, Australia’s Prime Minister, was nicknamed “Pig Iron
Bob” for condoning
the export of scrap
just before the War.
The practice
became particularly
controversial when
waterside workers
refused to load scrap
bound for Japan at Christmas in 1938, arguing
that it would be turned into munitions for use
against the Chinese.
During World War II, and with the approval
and encouragement of Mr Ben Chifley, then
Federal Treasurer, Sims established the
Simsmetal Staff Superannuation Fund.
At the end of the war, Albert set about
increasing the authorised capital of the
company, and in 1948, Albert G Sims Pty Ltd
was listed on the Australian Stock Exchange as
a public company, with an opening share price
of £1.
In September 1948, Albert was approached
by Reginald Bartley, Sydney’s Lord Mayor, and
invited to stand as a Councillor for Newtown
Ward in the newly expanded City Council
Albert accepted.
Albert passed away on October 3 1948 from
a heart attack after returning from a drive
to the Blue Mountains.
One of his many legacies was the name
“Sims”, a name synonymous with quality,
excellence and perseverance.
Albert Sims Jnr
Memorandum of Articles and Association dtd 1936
The Rt. Hon. R G Menzies.
nla.pic-an23217367. Photograph courtesy of National Library of Australia
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HISTORY 1948 - 1970
Albert junior had taken over the
business a few months before his father
died. His sister Bella, also worked for
Sims Staff 1959
the company and ran the Bankstown
Newcastle, or delivered to
yard.
wharf in Melbourne. The only
Albert was a staunch environmenInside original Newtown yard offices today
scrap permitted for export (with
talist, becoming a member of the Palm
a price in excess of £30 per ton delivered UK
Beach Association and was the main voice on a
or Japan), was material originating at least 50
committee “Save the Beaches” to prevent sand
miles from a capital city, thus worth about the
mining off Barrenjoey.
same as BHP were willing to pay, allowing for
Albert had also attempted to save a man from
internal transport.
drowning in the surf on Collaroy Beach in 1935,
Export volumes of this material had to be
and although the man was dead by the time the
supported by country weighbridge tickets, vetted
life savers had brought him back to shore, Albert
by the Department of Trade. The only exception
received a medal from the Royal Shipwreck
to this rule was scrap from Ford Motors in
Relief and Humane Society of NSW for his
Geelong, Victoria, and General Motors in
efforts.
Adelaide, South Australia. These two companies
In 1953,
between them had enough clout to demand
BHP had
access to the lucrative export market.
a virtual
This situation continued until the middle
monopoly on
to late 1950s, when the development of the
the purchase
iron ore industry in Western Australia removed
Newspaper reports of Albert Sims’ heroics and his medal
of scrap
BHP’s reliance on steel scrap.
steel, paying £5 per ton delivered Pt Kembla/
12
In 1956/57, Sims chartered MV “Swan
Hill”, the first cargo of scrap steel to be
exported to Japan. The success of this shipment
also coincided with a big change in Australian
shipping. The Australian National Line’s fleet of
coastal vessels, known collectively as the “River”
ships, were due for an upgrade and in the late
1950s, most of them were put up for sale,
together with the ANL shipping terminal at
Morts Dock, Balmain.
Albert proposed buying the fleet to the
Board, and the company
finished up buying five
ships: “River Mitta” and
“River Murray” were
loaded with scrap and
sold as such to Japan lock, stock and barrel, and
“River Glenelg”, “River Norman” and “River
Hunter” were retained to carry future cargoes
of scrap to Japan under the Sims-owned Hang
Fung Shipping and Trading Co of Hong Kong.
Unfortunately, this venture was unsuccessful
as the three remaining River ships proved to be
expensive to run with local crews.
One of Sims’ Singapore based shipping
companies, Malay States Shipping Company
Sdn Bhd, also ran a number of ocean faring
tugs, including “River Esk”.
The shock of the transition from being a pen pushing audit clerk to the tough but oh-so-stimulating world of
scrap, peopled by some of the toughest characters in town, and the fun of finishing off the books by midday and
spending afternoons learning the business as metal sorter, buyer, weighbridge man, crane driver, truck driver, forklift
driver, rep, furnace hand, battery breaker and general yard labour – wouldn’t have missed it for quids!!
VIC JOHNSON
Above: Doug Clugston at Albert Snr’s desk, late 60s.
Right: Sims QLD office 1951, Doug Clugston’s car outside
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In 1959, the Newtown yard was deemed too
small, and a 12 acre property at Ricketty Street,
Mascot, was acquired to load and unload metal
from railway wagons.
Mascot’s extensive rail network enabled Sims
to store and process large numbers of obsolete
rolling stock from the railways. The locomotive
pictured was the largest of all locomotives used
by Sims, weighing approximately 80 tonnes.
It has since been donated to the Dorrigo Rail
Museum.
Mascot Locomotive.
Aerial view of Mascot yard, etched in red, adjoining Kingsford Smith International Airport c. 1961
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It was pretty prehistoric back in the old days,
loading trucks etc, it’s good to see the way things are
done now and I’m glad to be a part of it.
CHARLIE CARLYON – AUST/NZ
The Mascot property was also well known to
most Sydneysiders, being situated right next to
Kingsford Smith Airport. Many visitors to
Australia noticed the Simsmetal shredder air
stack, which became a Sims icon.
Around the same time, the Australian foundry
trade was complaining about what it saw as the
excessive cost of pig iron purchased from BHP,
and Albert saw the opportunity to build a
furnace in Melbourne to convert scrap steel to
pig iron for foundry use. Sadly, it was plagued
with construction and technical problems, and
never operated fully.
Mascot shredder
MORTS DOCK
In 1960, the company had bought the block
of land at Morts Dock, which contained a dry
dock where ships were being built and repaired.
Albert’s vision was to buy all the obsolete ships
in the South Pacific and scrap them at Morts
Dock, as, at the time, those same ships were
being moved to Japan and Korea for scrapping.
There were already some engineering works
on nearby blocks owned by George Foster, a
good friend of Albert’s. Albert’s dream, how-
Aerial view of Morts Dock
ever, was never realised as Leichhardt Council
refused permission for Morts Dock to be used
as a loading dock for Sims’ ships. They deemed
that the whole area would be changed from semi
industrial to residential, and all existing Morts
Dock industrial buildings should be eventually
demolished for residential development.
A long battle between Sims and Leichhardt
Council followed.
15
Locals demonstrated against the continuing
industrialisation of the area and the battle
eventually went to the Supreme Court.
The fight to keep Morts Dock was costing the
Company a vast amount of money and resources
which brought the company to the edge of
bankruptcy. As a result, Albert, a man of vision
and way ahead of his time, was seeing the
company founded by his father beset by
seemingly insurmountable problems, with its
initial £1 share price falling to one shilling
and nine pence.
A management committee was formed in
December 1962 to attempt a rescue plan, but
sadly failed, and Albert was voted off the Sims
Board, resigning as a director of the company in
November 1963. He was 51 years old.
The Board was re-constituted
under the chairmanship of George
Gilder, a Chartered Accountant
nominated by the principal creditor,
the Bank of NSW. The River ships
were disposed of and the pig iron
plant was closed.
Morts Dock today
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The irrepressible Kevin McGuinness was one of the longest serving employees
in the history of the company. He started work at the original Newtown yard in
Sydney as a 15 year old in the late 1930s. He had a number of roles before being
appointed Sales Manager of Victoria in the early 1950s, at a time when Sims’
Victorian operations had less than 20 staff.
In 1962, Kevin was appointed Managing Director. Apart from Kevin’s very
“hands on” management of Sims during the 1960s and early 1970s, Kevin also
held the position of President of the
Australian/China Business Co-operation Committee and President of
the Australian/Japanese Business Co-operation Committee.
These two appointments provided Sims with considerable political
and trading clout, with Government and commerce in Australia, Japan
and China. Kevin was the first to break the news to the Chinese
Embassy in Australia of the death of Chairman Mao Tse Tung on 10th
September 1976.
Kevin resigned as Managing Director in 1976 and moved to Hong
Kong with Sims, as President of Simsmetal Hong Kong, and continued
to sell the company’s ferrous scrap into the region.
Kevin retired in 1986 to take up residence in the US, where he
continued to be closely associated with the scrap business, trading scrap
to the Far East, and sitting on the board of listed US scrap processor,
Metal Management Inc, until shortly before his death on 7th July 2006,
L to R : Russell Gulliver, General Manager QLD, Nick Paik
(Kangwon Steel), Kevin McGuiness, John Crabb in South Korea aged 85 years.
With the River ships sold and the pig iron plant
no more, a new way forward had to be found,
with export markets the key. Under the
charismatic leadership of Kevin McGuinness,
Sims had four major objectives:
1) to equip the company with the most
modern ferrous scrap processing machinery
to produce premium products
2) to tie up long term contracts with Japanese
mills for the sale of scrap steel
3) to establish relationships with major Chinese
(Hong Kong) ship owners for long term and
spot vessel charters
4) to position Sims as the most efficient and
Loading car bodies for export prior to Sims operating shredding plants
profitable Australian scrap company capable
of dominating the local market.
By the end of the 1960s, all of these
objectives had been successfully accomplished.
The Company had also grown to dominate
recycled non ferrous metal trading in Australia,
and to diversify its overseas ferrous scrap
markets to include Thailand, Korea, Singapore,
Malaysia, Indonesia, China, Taiwan, the
Philippines and Bangladesh.
On 8th November 1968, an Extraordinary
Meeting of shareholders of the company was
held to ratify the change of name from Albert G
Sims Limited to Simsmetal Ltd.
On 5th November 1970, the company
merged with Consolidated Metal Products
(CMP), and was renamed Sims Consolidated
Limited. “Simsmetal” remained the trading
name for the scrap yard operations. CMP had
originally floated in 1951 and was primarily an
engineering company.
Some of CMP’s main investors at the time
had included Albert G Sims, Brambles, BHP,
Mount Isa Mines and Wormald, some of which
are still trading today.
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18
Prior to the merger, CMP had diversified
from their core business with subsidiaries
including:
Grasslands Pty Ltd - manufacturer of the
“Big Rig Country” cultivators and planters,
tilling machines, haymaking and other feedstorage and crop/pasture seeding equipment
Besco Batteries - producer of the first
“maintenance free battery”, which could be
left for as long as 12 months, unused, and
still start a vehicle – vital for agricultural/
marine use
Compunet - supplying computer facilities in
all States of Australia
Unfortunately, Sims sold the horses back to
the Johnson family for a paltry sum!
John Broinowski
Bernie Grellman
The merger with CMP introduced new faces
to Sims including John Broinowski, Bernie
Grellman, Lincoln Smith, Reg Kennedy and
Gillis Broinowski.
Layne & Bowler – manufacturer of vertical
turbine submersible and axial flow pumps for
both industry and agriculture.
W Brown & Sons – this division had secondary
aluminium smelters in South Australia and
Victoria, and under that deal, the Company
also acquired two racehorses, one of which
was called “Tobin Bronze”, which had
previously won the W S Cox’s Plate horse
race two years in a row in 1966 and 1967.
From top to bottom: Series 700 forager. Forage harvester. Irrigation system.
Tobin Bronze winning 1967 W S Cox Plate
Photo courtesy of Fairfaxphotos
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HISTORY 1970 - 1991
Following the creation of Sims Consolidated,
the company operated two principal divisions,
“Simsmetal”, focusing exclusively on metal
recycling, and “Sims Products”, which
incorporated the former CMP diversified
businesses and which continued down the
path of further growth.
Unfortunately, the diversification strategy of
the company was not a success, and many of
the businesses acquired by Sims Products began
to struggle. Partially as a result of this, on 30th
January 1979, the takeover by Peko Wallsend
of Sims Consolidated Ltd for $58.4 million was
agreed to by directors and approved by shareholders on 9th May 1979.
Simsmetal then operated as a subsidiary of
Peko Wallsend for approximately the next 9
years. This period saw the appointment of John
Crabb, who had previously held the position
of General Manager NSW, as Chief General
Manager of Sims.
It was also a difficult time commercially as
the Company had one ship on long term
charter, MV “Cape Comorin” at a daily rate
of three times the spot market rate.
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SIMS PRODUCTS ACQUISITIONS 1970-1979
Sims Hardware
Sims Hardware opened 7 stores in WA and
2 in NSW.
Bluff Collieries
Coal mine producing coal for both domestic
consumption and for export.
Sims Maingage
Purchase and selling of industrial real estate.
Formfit
Formfit was a unique subsidiary! As far removed
from metal recycling as one could get!
Clive Hall
Member of the Sydney Futures Exchange, wool
growers traded wool up to 18 months ahead.
Sims Waste
Sims Waste - involved in the business of industrial
waste disposal.
Universal Inspection & Testing Company Pty
Limited
Provided the company with its own inspection
and testing division.
Universal Charterers
A chartering company in Australia specifically for
export shipments, later entering into a 50/50
partnership with Coal and Allied Limited.
Judson Steel Corporation
The company’s foray into the US steel industry.
P.T. Jaya Lead Products
Operating the secondary lead smelter in Indonesia.
Photographed from left: Unknown, Noel Perry,
Unknown, Ken Horlor, Graeme Balcomb, Di Gemmel,
David Faulkner, Bill Morgan, Wayne Balcomb (middle),
Slim Battye (back), John Crabb, Unknown, Unknown,
Jim Richards (back) Unknown (front), Ron Wanless,
Paul Clingan (middle), George Buck (front) Unknown
(back) Bill Kennedy, Unknown. Circa 1970
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Gillis Broinowski, Malcolm Burgess (rear), Homma (Marubeni) (seated front), Vic Johnson
and John Crabb
Addressing excessive cost was the responsibility
of the Simsmetal shipping division which, for
many years, had engaged in carrying return
cargoes of phosphate, steel products, timber and
containers from the Far East, the phosphate
producing islands and the American West Coast.
In 1983, who in Australia could ever forget
the sheer elation all around the nation when
John Bertrand won the America’s Cup with the
Ben Lexcen designed winged keel of “Australia
II”. Perhaps less well known is that it was lead
supplied, melted and poured by Sims in WA
which formed the ballast in that imaginative and
successful keel.
Sims went on to also provide the lead keels to
the America’s Cup Team Defence in 1987.
22
Above: Pouring of the Australia II keel. Right: Australia II
Staging the America’s Cup in WA was
not only fantastic for the company,
but for WA in particular - the camaraderie in
this division alone made it all worthwhile.
We have a great team of people here in WA and
I know this will continue.
BARRY HOAR – WA
JOHN CRABB – CEO 1988 - 2002
John Crabb emigrated to
Australia in 1962 from the UK
when a soccer scout approached
him in London and asked him to
move to Melbourne. He had been
playing soccer since he was 7 years
old, had played for Queens Park
Rangers and Fulham and loved it. Soccer in
Australia was an emerging sport in those
days, and as there wasn’t a lot of money to be
made, he had to get a second job. He joined
Sims as a trader for W R (Bill) Hamilton in 1965
in Melbourne, and as it became clear he had
talent, gradually worked his way up the
corporate ladder, until his appointment as
General Manager NSW, located at Mascot,
NSW.
Following a few years in that role, he was
appointed a director of Sims Consolidated and
moved from Mascot to Head Office, on his
promotion to Chief General Manager, Australia
in 1983. John set the company on the path of
global expansion, with the acquisition of Levin
Metals on the US West Coast in the late 1980s,
and became Managing Director, and then
re-established Simsmetal Limited as a public
company in its own right, in 1991.
Throughout his 37 year history with the
company, John’s knowledge and vision helped
him play a vital role in the growth and sustainability of the Group. He says:
“I think that my experience at Sims was all
good. We had some tough times, but I loved
it. I just wish I could do it all again! A lot of
the people that were at the company when I
was Managing Director are still there, they are
all good people, and that says a lot about the
company. I believe it is the people that make
the company.”
John retired in 2002.
In the second half of the 1980s John Crabb
recognised that the advent of new domestic
electric arc steel making furnaces would see
domestic scrap consumption in Australia increase
dramatically. New sources of material would
therefore have to be found to meet the ever
increasing demand for scrap from the growing
Asian markets, which had been painstakingly
developed over the previous three decades. The
West Coast of the USA was quickly identified as
a complementary region for Sims to once again
develop an overseas enterprise. John, with the
assistance of Alan Ratner, a US citizen recently
returned to North America after working for
Sims in Australia, soon identified LMC
Corporation as being a perfect acquisition
target. The business was owned by Dick Levin
and run by his nephew Bob Lewon, President
of LMC.
Richard Levin remained Chairman of the
company until the sale of the business to
Simsmetal in early 1988.
LMC Richmond Facility etched in red
23
HISTORY OF LMC – LEVIN METALS CORPORATION
Levin Machinery and Salvage was founded in 1939 by
brothers Richard and David Levin. It’s primary business
was agriculture, and during the second world war, sold
government surplus hardware to the agricultural community.
The post war immigration boom to California saw the
company grow and evolve into vessel chartering and scrap
metal processing for export to the rapidly industrialising
Far East.
The company was renamed Levin Metals Corporation
in 1951, and subsequently changed it’s name to LMC
Corporation.
Headquartered in San Jose, California, LMC had
operations throughout Northern California, including
a dock side shredder at the port of Redwood City, and
a large shearing and baling facility adjacent to it’s own
bulk cargo terminal, which it purchased in 1981 at
Richmond.
In the 1970s, measured by gross tonnage, the
Richmond facility of LMC processed more scrap than
any other individual yard on the West Coast of America.
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Richard Levin
A letter of intent to acquire this San Francisco
based, export orientated, business was signed in
July 1987. Long and torturous negotiations
followed, dragged out by environmental issues
and also a rising market which encouraged
Richard Levin to delay
completion of the acquisition as long as possible!
The LMC purchase
finally settled in February
1998, but before the dust
had settled, Peko Wallsend
Alan Ratner (left) and Bob Lewon
found itself party to a “friendly takeover” by
North Broken Hill Limited, another Australian
publicly listed resources conglomerate.
This takeover did not in itself change much
for Sims, but what followed did. Through no
fault of its own, Sims and its management team
found themselves victim to a series of corporate
manoeuvres which
lasted from 1988 to
1991. The first unsettling event to occur was
the decision by North
Broken Hill to sell Sims
(together with a number
of other former Peko
Wallsend assets) to
Jimmie Buckland – Snr VP – Richmond, California
Redwood City – Sims-LMC Recyclers
25
Elders Resources NZFP Limited, in return for
the cancellation of Elders’ hostile shareholding
in North’s. John Crabb and his team were then
tasked with ensuring another new owner was
“educated” in the dynamics of the metal
recycling industry, especially the volatility of
metal markets. Sims Corporate office also
relocated to North Sydney, where it remains
today. The completion of the Elders purchase
took place in late 1988, but worse was to come!
In 1990, Elders Resources NZFP was itself
the subject of a takeover by Carter Holt Harvey
Limited (a New Zealand forestry business
interested in acquiring the “New Zealand Forest
Products” (NZFP) part of Elders). Once again,
Sims was put on the block as Carter Holt Harvey
sought to dispose of its newly acquired but non
core, Australian assets.
Beauty parade after beauty parade followed
as John Crabb and Ross Cunningham were
obliged to explain the workings and finances of
Sims to a string of interested parties, including a
number of global competitors. All of this came
to nothing as Carter Holt Harvey was unable to
secure an offer matching its price expectations.
To add insult to injury, the rapidly growing Sims
Waste Division was sold from under Sims to a
French group and has subsequently grown into
one of Australia’s leading waste and
environmental services companies (Veolia
Environmental), under the guidance of Sims’
former General Manager – Waste, Doug Dean.
Eventually, with a change in the appetite
of equity capital markets, Potter Warburg and
Credit Suisse First Boston came forward with a
proposal to re-list Sims on the Australian Stock
Exchange, and after lengthy negotiations
between underwriters, Carter Holt Harvey, and
the new Sims Board in waiting, Sims finally
re-listed on the Australian Stock Exchange on
14th November 1991. Kevin Kirby was
appointed Chairman and
John Crabb, CEO and
Managing Director.
Sims Group Corporate HO, North Sydney
Sims Board 1991, left to right Ross Cunningham, John Crabb, Kevin Kirby, Mike Feeney, Paul Mazoudier, Charles Copeman
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“Recyclers do it
over and over”
“Simsmetal - delivering
to the world”
“Recycling the past to
preserve the future”
“Sims Group: building the world’s
leading recycling company”
27
HISTORY 1991 - 2006
The Board in New Zealand
The next 10 years of the company’s history
completed its transformation from a division of
various Australian public companies operating
principally within Australia, to a truly international metal recycling group.
In New Zealand, Sims had operated what
was principally a non
ferrous business for
a number of years.
It’s move into the big
league across the
Tasman came in 1991
when Sims merged its
business with the much
larger ferrous recycling
operations owned by
Pacific Steel Industries, a Fletcher Challenge
company. The new 50:50 joint venture, named
Sims Pacific Metals Limited (SPM), was
managed by Sims and Rodney Brown was
appointed SPM’s first General Manager.
The joint venture was an immediate success
supplying better quality material to Pacific Steel
and delivering excellent returns to both
companies’ shareholders.
In California, Sims LMC Recyclers
continued to consolidate its northern
Californian footprint, upgrading its Redwood
City shredder and growing it’s non ferrous
business centred in San Jose.
The next major move for Sims was in Europe.
John Crabb had maintained close ties with the
land of his birth over the years, looking at the
latest recycling technologies and forging links
with European peers, in part through the
company’s membership of the Brussels based
Bureau of International Recycling (BIR).
In 1993, Sims International had established
a UK representative office. This led to the
purchase of a small non ferrous business,
Top: Redwood City, California. Middle: Scrapping a Cadillac. Bottom: The end product.
28
renamed Sims Denton, in South London. A
foothold, however, in the UK’s ferrous market
was John Crabb’s main ambition, and after
exploring a number of opportunities, the
company eventually joined forces with the
Bird Group of Companies to create Sims Bird
Limited in 1995, 51% owned by Sims and 49%
owned by the Bird Group.
Russell Gulliver, who had worked for Sims
since 1962 moved from Queensland, where he
was General Manager, to become Chief
Executive of Sims UK Limited. Tom Bird
was appointed Managing Director.
The strategy was one of growth in the UK
market and a deep sea dock was opened in
Newport shortly thereafter
The acquisition of McIntyre Metals, based
in the East Midlands followed in 1996. Shortly
thereafter, Jeremy Sutcliffe was appointed CEO
Sims UK Limited.
Other acquisitions followed, but Sims
UK’s fortunes were transformed with the
acquisition of Philips Services in 2000,
bringing back together the recycling assets
of the Bird Group as they were prior to its
break up in 1991.
Clockwise from top left: Sims Group UK HO, Stratford-upon-Avon. G Wright, J Crabb,
John Pownall. Sims Bird site on Thames. Sims Group Board visit Newport, 1996 - left to
right - Kevin Kirby, Russell Gulliver, Paul Mazoudier, Ross Cunningham, Tom Bird, Charles
Copeman, John Crabb, Mike Feeney. Tom Bird, Managing Director, – Sims Group UK Ltd.
29
Above: Avonmouth. Bottom right: Tom Bird (left) and Jeremy Sutcliffe - Avonmouth.
30
HISTORY OF THE BIRD GROUP
The Bird Group’s history goes back nearly a hundred years when
William Thomas Bird, known as Tom Bird, first went into business
trading in fruit, then vehicles, and finally scrap in the depression in
the early 1930s. Tom’s commercial vehicles had become virtually
worthless and he resorted to cutting them up!
After the second world war, Tom became one of the UK’s
largest dealers in war surplus equipment including tanks, the
engines of which were sold to China for use in junks. The company
also became the largest second hand bus dealer in the UK, at which
time, his son Walter Thomas Bird (Tommy) became involved in the
business. In the late 1950s, Tommy’s brothers, Tony and Brian Bird,
joined the company and were involved in the dismantling of the sea
forts’ military equipment in the Solent at Portsmouth, and the big
guns at Dover, which fired across the English channel into France.
In 1960, the family made the decision to focus their activities
primarily on metal recycling. The Bird brothers revolutionised the
way scrap in the UK was processed, and were at the forefront of
scrap processing development in Europe, establishing their own
research and development company, which worked with universities
and government research establishments.
By 1970, the transformed Bird Group was the most mechanised
recycler in the UK with in-plant operations in five of British steel’s
major plants, handling over a million tonnes of scrap per annum
for the corporation. By the 1980s, Birds operated from about 25
locations, several being export terminals, handling a further million
tonnes.
In 1991, the Bird family sold the main part of their group to
Allied Steel, a UK steelmaker. At this stage, Tommy Bird retired as
chairman and Brian and Tony Bird started up the new and much
smaller Bird Group. Tommy’s son Tom Bird joined Allied Steel as
Managing Director of its newly acquired Bird Group recycling
company, joined by Peter his brother.
Within 3½ years the new smaller Bird Group had climbed back
to become the fourth largest metal recycler in the UK leading up to
the formation of the Sims Bird JV. Although Sims has since acquired
100% of the joint company, the relationship between both
companies and their directors remains as strong as ever.
The photo above shows the crane hooked to the breech end of the barrel of one of the two 16 inch cannons put on the cliffs at Dover by Winston Churchill when
he was First Sea Lord of the Royal Navy, about 1914. These cannons weighed 600 tons, the barrels weighed 100 tons and the shells, weighing 1 ton each, were
stored in vast caverns underground where the guns were situated and the shells were elevated by mechanical lifts. They could fire across the English Channel into
France. The guns themselves were removed from the battle ship Rameles which was the heaviest battle ship ever built for the British Navy but which proved too
cumbersome to manouvre. Hence, Churchill scrapped it and used its armoury for the English Channel defences. In the centre of the picture with his hands on his
hips is Tommy Bird, the son of the founder of The Bird Group who, with his team, dismantled these guns in 1957, exactly fifty years ago. Part of the breech block
to the right of the picture, weighs 25 tons. Attached to it, is a 3 ton bronze breech mechanism. The barrels, which were over 6 feet in diameter at the deepest
end, were cut through with thermic oxygen lances. Each sheave of the barrels was layered with gun wire which made the cutting operation even more difficult.
Above: Mobile car crusher. Right: Prince Charles attending the international recycling exhibition. To the Prince’s right is Tommy Bird, the eldest
of the three Bird brothers. To Tommy’s right is Brian Bird and at Prince
Charles’ left shoulder is Tony Bird.
31
SIMS INTERNATIONAL
In the early 90’s, John Crabb decided to consolidate
ferrous and non ferrous international marketing from
Australia and “Sims International” was born. Jeremy
Sutcliffe was it’s first General Manager. Recognising the
potential of China, Chinese nationals were recruited and
one of them, Louis Liu, became the company’s first Chief
Representative in China when Sims opened it’s Shanghai
Representative Office in 1993.
Sims International’s next marketing office was
opened in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 1996 and Kumar
Radhakrishnan was appointed Chief Representative –
Malaysia. Since then, offices in Chennai, India and Hanoi,
Vietnam have been added.
The next main development in global marketing
came with the formation of the central marketing
entity (“CME”) for the group’s entire international non
ferrous marketing. Initially based in Sydney, and headed
by Michael Lion, CME moved to Hong Kong in 2007 to
be both geographically and time zone wise, closer to the
majority of our major international consumers.
In my position,
the opportunity to travel
and see how different
cultures operate scrap yards
overseas has been educational,
informative and unforgettable.
Now that we are a multi
billion organisation, the
chance to explore every aspect
of recycling is a fantastic
opportunity.
JACK BROWN
– CME – HONG KONG
32
Clockwise from top: L
to R - Nick Battistella,
Trish Cheung, Zhang
Feng, Las Hui, Jack
Brown, Graeme
Cameron (rear), Darrell
Wong (front), Patrick
Mok and Michael Lion.
Metal sorting in China.
Metal sorting in India.
Kumar Radhakrishnan,
General Manager Sims
International – 19992006.
Left: Myles Partridge, Rick Jansen and Jimmie Buckland. Right:
Pick’n’payless yard. Below: Rick Jansen. Bottom: Garry Rush.
Meanwhile, “across the pond”, Sims USA had
acquired its first business on the US East Coast
in Virginia and shortly thereafter a business in
Southern California. Another long time Sims
executive, Rick Jansen, who had joined the
company in 1973, moved from his position of
Executive General Manager Southern Region
to become President Simsmetal USA
Corporation in 1999.
Back on home soil, Pick’n Payless Self
Service Auto Parts, (a joint venture with Garry
Rush, an Australian Sprint Car champion) was
established in Sydney in February 1997.
Based on a US concept, it allowed customers
to remove parts themselves from the huge array
of vehicles in the yard, and pay, based on a
transparent and simple pricing structure.
In its first year, Pick’n Payless was awarded
the prestigious Employer of the Year Award,
sponsored by the Rt Hon. John Howard, Prime
Minister, for employing people with disabilities,
allowing them to follow a fulfilling career path.
33
CHAIRMEN AND MANAGING DIRECTORS/CEOs
34
CHAIRMEN
Circa 1951 – 1958
1958 – 1963
1963 – 1970
1970 – 1983
1983 – 1988
1988 – 1989
1989 – 1991
1991 – 1998
1998 – present day
Charles Harvey
Albert G Sims Jnr
George Gilder
John Broinowski
Gillis Broinowski
Dr Ernest Miller
John Cornelius
Kevin Kirby
Paul Mazoudier
MANAGING DIRECTORS/CEOs
1948 – 1962
1962 – 1975
1975 – 1976
1976 – 1983
1983 – 1988
1988 – 2002
2002 – present day
Albert G Sims Jnr
Kevin McGuinness
William Hamilton
George Simpson
Gillis Broinowski
John Crabb
Jeremy Sutcliffe
35
The Australian Manufacturing Division was
established in 1994 following the acquisition of
Affinity Metals, which was merged with Sims’
existing secondary aluminium business.
This strategic change allowed for a newly
focused management team to grow the business
and become Australia’s
market leaders in its own right.
With its unique molten
metal transfer capabilities,
an Australian first, the
majority of aluminium
recycled is sourced from
Simsmetal’s recycling
Doug McLean, General Manager
Manufacturing Division
operations throughout
Australia, with ingot and molten metal
produced to world class quality specification.
Sims Tyrecycle has been part of the Sims
Group since May 2004 and collects scrap and
imperfect tyres from manufacturers, retailers,
local councils, recyclers etc, and disposes of them
in accordance with environmental
regulations.
The company collects and disposes over
seven million tyre units (EPUs) of the estimated
eighteen million generated annually in Australia.
Suitable tyres are sorted for granulation at
Tyrecycle’s plant located in Melbourne.
36
In 2000, Sims once
again showed itself ahead
of its time by investing in
a 50% interest in Landfill
Management Services
(LMS), a renewable energy company extracting
methane gas from landfill
and converting it to
John Falzon, LMS
electricity. LMS has become an important
symbol of Sims’ commitment to sustainable
resources and addressing climate change.
LMS is managed by a team of uniquely
qualified people with outstanding experience in
landfill gas, bio gas, coal seam methane, power
generation, energy trading emission trading,
power purchase agreements and the commercialisation of new technologies.
Top: Sims Tyrecycle QLD – one of 3 new trucks. Bottom: 3MW power generation plant, Rochedale
LMS – Rochedale modules
37
On 8th November
2002, Kevin Kirby
died after a battle
with Cancer. He
was 74 years old.
Kevin had retired
from the Board of
Directors in
1998, and Paul
Mazoudier had
Kevin Kirby
assumed the role of Chairman.
At the company’s AGM in November
2001, John Crabb announced his retirement
to shareholders. At the same time, Jeremy
Sutcliffe’s appointment to the Board as Group
Chief Executive, taking effect on 1st March
2002, was announced.
Kevin McGuinness, seated, John Crabb (left) and Jeremy Sutcliffe on John’s retirement
38
Working in the remote areas of the Northern Territory 20 years ago was fairly memorable,
there was nothing around for hundreds of miles, so the drivers took their swag and mobile
BBQ with them and lived on the road. They were away for a few months at a time.
TERRY ADAMS – QLD
Newport shredder, crane and rail link installations
39
JEREMY SUTCLIFFE, GROUP CEO
Jeremy was first introduced
to Simsmetal while employed
as Legal Counsel for Peko
Wallsend Limited. When
North Broken Hill decided to
sell Sims to Elders Resources
Group, Jeremy worked
on the transaction, and
then, rather than stay with
NBH, elected to join Elders
Resources to maintain his
connection with Sims. His first
executive role with Sims was as General Manager Ferrous
Exports and Shipping, and he became General Manager
- Sims International shortly thereafter.
After 5 years as MD of Simsmetal UK Limited, he returned to Australia to
assume his current position of Group Chief Executive Officer. In his own words,
he says:
I confess that when I joined Peko Wallsend in 1987 as Legal Counsel I had
no idea that it had a scrap metal recycling subsidiary. In fact I had never heard
of Simsmetal. That all changed very quickly when, as coincidence - or luck
- would have it, John Crabb started negotiations to buy LMC Metals in Northern California and needed a lawyer to help him. For the next seven months we
criss-crossed the Pacific negotiating the deal (I was “junior brief/bag carrier”
according to John!) which finally closed in early 1988. I even visited a scrap
yard for the first time! The rest, is of course, history. I will forever be grateful
to John for giving me the opportunity to join Sims proper, and for having faith
in my ability to switch from lawyer to scrap man. This opportunity led to my
appointment as CEO of Simsmetal UK when, in 1996, the company deported
me back to England, the country I’d left a decade earlier. Sims continued to
grow in all directions and by the time I returned to Australia in 2002 as Group
CEO on John Crabb’s retirement, the company was already the world’s most
geographically diverse and successful, metal recycler. In the last five years,
with the support of the Board and the efforts of all our employees (and with
a slight tailwind from the commodities boom!) the company, now renamed
Sims Group, has continued to grow and prosper. With the formation of our
Recycling Solutions Division and the continuing growth of our core Metals
Recycling business we are well on the way towards achieving our goal of
“building the worlds leading recycling company”.
40
Shortly thereafter the company adopted an
official corporate goal:
“Sims Group’s goal is to grow its core
metal recycling business internationally
while also developing an innovative
recycling solutions business”
To coincide with this, and to reflect the
broader nature of the company’s recycling
activities beyond metal to include e-waste,
plastics, CRT glass etc, the Board of Directors
resolved to change the company’s name from
Simsmetal Limited to Sims Group Limited.
The name change was approved by shareholders in November 2002.
Another initiative was to cut the umbilical
cord between the Sims HO and the Australian
business and for Sims Australia to operate
independently, in the same way as Sims UK and
Sims USA. New premises were leased in Botany
in April 2006 and Darron McGree became
Managing Director, Sims Australia and New
Zealand. Considerable investments were made
to upgrade facilities including the “flagship”
Melbourne yard.
DARRON MCGREE - MANAGING DIRECTOR, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND
After leaving school and trying a few different jobs, my father suggested I apply for a job at a tin
smelting company called O. T. Lempriere (according to him it was either that or join the police force).
OTL moved further into metal recycling by acquiring Mid Metals Pty Ltd where I eventually worked my
way up to General Manager Australia, before leaving to run my own business.
In 1983 Russell Gulliver offered me the job of Non Ferrous Trading Manager NSW which I accepted
thinking I would stay for a few months and then move on. Guess I lost track of time.
At various times I have held the positions of General Manager NSW, General Manager Northern
Division and Executive General Manager Australia before becoming Managing Director Australasia.
Sims Australia, the engine room for our overseas expansion, owes much of its success to the
fantastic people who have made their careers in a great company in a dynamic industry. I am proud
to be working with them and regard many of them as my friends.
John Glyde.
Melbourne 2007, following its reconstruction by John Glyde, General Manager
41
GRAHAM DAVY, CEO EUROPE & GLOBAL
RECYCLING SOLUTIONS
Graham Davy had joined Cardiff based Steelmaker ASW as a graduate, but transferred
to Allied Bird when ASW purchased the
shredding business of the Bird Group. He rose
to the position of Managing Director of the
Company which, by then, was called Philip Services UK,
following its sale by ASW to Canadian based Philip Services Inc.
In 2000, Sims acquired Philip Services UK. In 2002, Graham
was asked by Jeremy Sutcliffe to head the new Sims Recycling
Solutions division. In Graham’s words:
“I was told to start a business that had no customers or
suppliers and, at that stage, was all talk! We managed to
grow quickly, seizing the opportunity offered by legislation,
the increasing flows of e-waste and a determination to lead
the global push to deal with the problem of post consumer
electronic end-of-life products.
So far so good - and we see the business continuing to
grow.”
Newport Fridge Plant
42
With further international growth in mind,
Sims launched its recycling solutions division
“Sims Recycling Solutions”.
This strategy led to the acquisition of Mirec,
a continental European e-recycler based in
Holland, Belgium, Sweden and Scotland. Sims
Recycling Solutions European footprint was
to expand in late 2006 with the acquisition of
Metall + Recycling GmbH of Bergkamen,
Germany.
While the company was growing SRS, it
was also working quietly towards a company
transformational transaction. In June 2005, after
over two years negotiations, Sims announced the
merger of the company with the metal recycling
assets of Hugo Neu Corporation (HNC), a
New York based corporation with large scale
ferrous scrap export facilities in Los Angeles
and New Jersey.
Top: Hard drives. Bottom: M+R employees, Germany. Left: Sims Mirec Truck.
43
The merger was effected by way
of a scheme of arrangement,
approved by shareholders on 31
October 2005 and the “new”
Sims Group commenced trading
on 31 October 2005.
Bob Kelman, President,
Sims Group USA
HNC became the company’s
largest shareholder at 26%, and John Neu and
another HNC nominee, Paul Varello, joined the
Board.
The merger also marked the retirement from
the board of Charles Copeman (who had been
associated with Sims from his days of Chief
Executive of Peko Wallsend Limited, and had sat
on the Board since the float in 1991). Charles was
replaced by Dr Robert Every.
Overnight Sims Group nearly doubled it’s
tonnage to between 9-10 million tonnes per
annum, 65% of which exported from the country
where it was processed to international markets.
Sales exceeded A$4 billion. The merger was
enthusiastically received by investors, and the
company’s shares, which traded around the $14
level at the time of
the merger, rose to
over $18 when
the merger was
completed.
C Copeman & B Every.
44
SIMS GROUP GLOBAL TRADE
The merger with Hugo Neu introduced an exciting new trading business to Sims. Headed by Bill Schmiedel
(pictured extreme right), President Sims Global Trade LLC, (SGT), the company sources third party ferrous
scrap and other steel making raw materials such as pig iron and HBI from around the world for sale to
our international steel making customers. Based in New York, SGT also sells most of the group’s ferrous
scrap destined for international markets and provides up to date market information to all our operating
divisions.
Top: US export team. Bottom left: Sims Hugo Neu head office, 110 Fifth Avenue, New York. Bottom right: LA Terminal Island
HUGO NEU CORPORATION
Hugo Neu Corporation (HNC) was founded in
1945 by Hugo Neu, who started his career in the
international metals trading business in Germany in
1919, then moved to England in 1924 and to the
US in 1928. Under Hugo’s leadership, the company
invested in real estate, shipping and in scrap metal
recycling, developing recycling facilities on the East
and West Coasts of the United States. His two sons,
John and Richard joined the business (John after
starting his career in law) and when Hugo died in
1985, John and Richard became Co-Chief Executive
Officers. In 1994, John became sole CEO of HNC’s
recycling interests and the bulk of its real estate
operations. The company continued its growth
to become one of North America’s largest recyclers
through its own and certain joint venture operations
and the largest exporter of ferrous scrap from the US,
primarily from New Jersey, Los Angeles and Boston.
HNC was also responsible for the renewal of New York
City’s municipal kerb-side recycling program in 2004.
HNC’s joint venture relationships terminated in 2005,
with HNC acquiring sole ownership of the West Coast
and New York/New Jersey recycling operations. Shortly
thereafter, those operations were merged with Sims.
Hugo Neu Barge, New York Harbour
From left to right: Paul Mazoudier, John Neu and Jeremy Sutcliffe
45
Paul Varello, Director
Shredder, Claremont, New Jersey, USA
46
1978/79 Chevrolet Impala Sims USA
47
PEOPLE
Corporate HO female long servers – pictured below are the
female employees in Corporate HO, North Sydney, who have
completed 5 or more years of employment – in total,
a whopping 122 years between them!!
L to R: Anita Spence (9), Mary Reedy (17), Samantha Crawford (11), Jessica Lam (7), Sheila Walker (30), Victoria Sison (6),
Inez Howcroft (12), Susan Atayan (6), Jenny Burns (10), Anthea Millhouse (10) and Linda van Staden (6)
Over the years I have held many roles within the company.
For sheer involvement and entertainment, working in the
Trading Department with many people, some of whom are now
General Managers, has given me a great deal of satisfaction and
helped unravel some of the mysteries of scrap trading.
My time at Sims has been very informative, rewarding and
at times entertaining and I have met many people and made many
friends. I consider myself fortunate to be part of this
vibrant go-ahead team and company.
SALLY CLARKE - NSW
Clockwise from top left : Frank Moratti, PNG Employees, Sims Graduates, Pippa, Brigitte, Thea, Sally and Samantha
48
I think things will continue to progress as well as they are in the company.
I’ve seen a lot of managers come and go. It’s busy and it’s very
male dominated, but I thoroughly enjoy working in the transport area.
HELEN NALDER - QLD
I’ve been with Simsmetal for over 21 years, situated at both the St Marys and Wetherill Park Yards
doing various jobs, including the Occupational Health & Safety and Quality area.
I then got a transfer back to St Marys yard where it all began. I have been happy with working with
Sims, and I have to say I have been lucky I have two great bosses; one being Russell Chant and the
other is Darryl Woodhouse. They say you are lucky to have one good boss in your working career, but I
have been fortunate to have good bosses where ever I have been.
TRACY WYARD, NSW
49
2007 - THE FUTURE
Sims’ business entered 2007 in great shape
buoyed by the continuation of the China
driven commodities boom, record global steel
production and record high base metal prices.
SRS expanded its business into North
America with the acquisition of the Chicago
based United Recycling Industries and the
acquisition of Noranda’s e-recycling assets in
Canada, California and Tennessee.
2007 also marked the arrival of a new major
shareholder in Mitsui and Co. Ltd., which purchased a 20% stake in the company from HNC.
On completion of this transaction, John Neu
resigned from the Board and Mike Iwanaga
and Chris Renwick, nominated by Mitsui & Co,
were appointed directors.
In North America, the Company changed
its name back to Sims Group with it’s metal
recycling business trading as Simsmetal. By
September 2007, Sims’ share price had risen to
a record $34.28 – a long way from its 1991 issue
price of $2.00. The Board and all employees
should be extremely proud of this achievement.
Chris Renwick
Mike Iwanaga
STOP PRESS
On 25th September 2007, Sims Group
announced the next exciting development in it’s
corporate evolution – Sims will merge with Metal
Management Inc (MMI), one of North America’s
largest recyclers, listed on the New York Stock
Exchange. MMI shareholders will receive American
Depositary Receipts, “quasi shares” still tradable
on the New York Stock Exchange.
Sims Group, which will be renamed Sims
Metal Management Limited, will remain an
Australian company listed on the Australian
Stock Exchange and former Sims shareholders
will own approximately 70% of the company.
Volumes handled will increase to over 15
million tonnes per year, and over 60% of earnings
and revenue will be sourced from North America.
Adding European earnings, around 75% will then
be earned offshore.
The transaction requires MMI shareholder
approval and is scheduled to complete in early
2008. If it proceeds, then Sims will maintain its
position as the largest listed global metal recycler
and also become the largest metal recycler in
North America.
The company can then
legitimately lay claim to
having built the world’s
leading recycling
company.
Dan Dienst - MMI CEO
50
Sydney Morning Herald
- reports proposed merger with
Metal Management Inc
25 September 2007
51
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We would like to thank the following people:
Judith Parker (nee Sims), whose knowledge and
friendship was invaluable
Vic Johnson
Russell Gulliver
Kelly Zimmerman (nee McGuinness)
Sandra May (nee Clugston)
Ross Cunningham
Tony Bird
Judy Parker outside original office door
– Newtown – December 2006
among many others.
This publication would not have been possible
without their valued assistance.
Vic Johnson
Russell Gulliver
Tony Bird
52
Editor Sheila Walker is
both a long standing
employee of Sims
(having been with the
company for over 30
years), as well as a
long term shareholder.
“When Jeremy Sutcliffe first approached me
with the idea of researching, co-authoring and
editing a book on the company, I was a little
apprehensive, but it has proven to be an
educational and also a very rewarding experience.
“My years as editor of our company magazine,
“Simsworld”, has given me the opportunity to
learn much about the people who have built this
company, and in helping produce this book, I have
had the pleasure of meeting many of them.
“I hope you all get as much enjoyment reading
this book, as I did in helping create it.”
53
APPENDICES
I
II
III
IV
V
VI
VII
VIII
IX
X
XI
54
EMPLOYEES WORTH A SPECIAL MENTION
THE IMPORTANCE OF SAFETY
ANNUAL REPORTS
SIMS NEWS
40 YEAR SERVERS
30-39 YEAR SERVERS
20-29 YEAR SERVERS
TRIVIA AND TITBITS
ACQUISITIONS AND JOINT VENTURES
DIRECTORS OVER A 10 YEAR PERIOD
PHOTO GALLERY
APPENDIX I
EMPLOYEES WORTH A SPECIAL MENTION
NORM YATES
- VICTORIA
Norm was the only one of
5 that survived an horrific
explosion at the Company’s
aluminium furnace at
Norm Yates – Clerk, Geelong scrap
Laverton in 1986. The
yard, Victoria
other 4 men who lost their lives were:
Gary May
Cyril Stanley
Kenneth Clarke
Mervyn O’Neill
Norm says, “There were initially 2
explosions. The metal actually caught fire and
melted. After the first explosion, I thought that
was it and started to walk out, but Cyril grabbed
me and pulled me back. If it wasn’t for him, I
would not have survived.
“The safety initiatives now in place are
outstanding and it is great to know that the
explosion that occurred in 1986 will never
happen again”.
Norm is still, to this day, receiving skin grafts
and physiotherapy on his hands and elsewhere.
Norm has been with the company for 21 years
now and still loves his job. He works in the
weighbridge as a clerk, and does a little bit of
everything.
WILLIAM “BILLY”
TAGUE - TASMANIA
William (Billy) Tague has
worked 33 years without
William “Billy” Tague – Leading Hand,
Bell Bay scrap yard, Tasmania
taking one sick day off. This
is an incredible achievement.
Billy puts this great effort down to his home
brew, which according to his workmates, needs
diluting first with normal beer, then lemonade!!
The record so far was Joe Reed, who went 38
years with no sick leave in the 1970s.
Congratulations to these two employees.
VALE
Over the years, some of the extraordinary
people that work for this company
have passed away, including,
within the last 12 years:
Lincoln Smith, Alan Craston, David Lane,
Gary May, Cyril Stanley, Kenneth Clarke,
Mervyn O’Neill, Kevin McGuiness, Kevin Kirby,
Bruce Woithe, Rick Parry, Parry Hill,
Harry Bungay, Jack Goodwin, Dennis Margaritis,
Margaret Sternberg, Michael Collins,
Capt. Peter Nash, Homma (Marubeni),
Albert G Sims Jnr., Henry Olloson, Al Oliva,
Neville Brehmer, Martyn Tamlyn, Brian Brown,
Paul Pratten.
55
APPENDIX II
THE IMPORTANCE OF SAFETY:
Lyle Lutherborrow
Lost Time Injuries 1988 to 2007
220
200
180
160
NUMBER OF LTI & LTIFR
The safety of the company’s employees, and
all who come into contact with its operations,
products and services, is of paramount
importance. Sims’ safety culture has come a
long way from the appointment of it’s first safety
officer Lyle Lutherborrow, in December 1975.
Lyle designed the first safety booklet. Since
that time, the booklet has been revised at least
10 times.
Today, the company employs safety
professionals throughout all of its operating
divisions in every country.
Responsibility of the safety does not, however,
rest solely with our safety officers. Everybody,
from the Board of Directors, country heads,
General Manager’s and all employees, have
the responsibility of ensuring safety of their
colleagues and the public.
Today, safety operates under the company’s
Safety, Health, Environment and Community
(“SHEC”) regime. A SHEC Committee of the
main Board reviews the operations of the global
Executive SHEC Committee which in turn
monitors the SHEC Committee’s in each country.
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
1988
1990
1992
1994
1996
Lost time Injuries 1988 to 2007 LTI
56
1998
2000
2002
YEAR
Lost time Injuries 1988 to 2007 LTIFR
2004
2006
2007
Critical to safety has been instilling a sense of
safety awareness amongst all employees through
a system known as “Observation Behaviour
Audits” which focuses on employees observing
and noting both favourable, as well as unfavourable, safety conduct by colleagues and areas for
ongoing improvement.
Sims’ commitment to safety has been
reflected in our safety record, which, since
the listing of the company in 1991, has
delivered significant improvements.
The company’s endeavours have also been
recognised with safety awards from authorities
including Workcover Victoria and the National
Safety Council of Australia and by Australian
Business Limited for their “Safety in Business”
awards.
In the UK, the company received a national
recycling award for “Best Commitment to
Health and Safety Practices”.
The Sims UK Health and Safety Authority
include Simsmetal on its public website as a
“best practice” case study.
The company’s commitment to safety
continues with the ultimate goal of zero
accidents.
APPENDIX II
We loaded ships by hand, which was a dangerous
practice, but that was the way it was done in those
days - it took a long time! It’s great to see that safety
has improved greatly!!
KEN KATOA - QLD
Top Right: presentation of special safety award for working many years without a lost time or medically treated injury.
Left to right, Darryl Woodhouse (NSW Risk & Safety Manager), Paul Blackmore and Peter Abouharb (employees from
the Bankstown yard) and Andrew Papandreas (Nat. Risk, Safety & Training Manager)”
Above: Left to right Bob Mills (TV personality), Veolia Rep, Paul Urbonas (UK safety manager) Jane Reyner (Chairman
of judging panel)
57
APPENDIX III
ANNUAL REPORTS
1977
1974
1975
1973
1956
1959
1994
1963
1992
1971
1972
1967
58
1993
APPENDIX III
2003
1998
1995
1999
2004
2002
1997
2000
1996
2005
2001
2006
59
APPENDIX IV
SIMS NEWS
60
APPENDIX IV
61
APPENDIX V
40 YEAR INTERVIEWS
Ross Cunningham
Exec Director Group Finance & Strategy - HO, NSW
Ross Cunningham was originally employed as a metallurgist by
Consolidated Metal Products (CMP) in 1967. Following the
acquisition of CMP by Simsmetal in 1970, Ross was involved in
a broader role within the CMP group prior to being promoted to
Manager of P T Jaya Lead, a joint venture between Simsmetal and
the city of Jakarta, Indonesia, to oversee the construction and
establishment of a lead smelter in Indonesia in 1973.
Ross returned to Australia in 1975 to take up the new position
of Manager, Non Ferrous Smelters in Victoria, which included
responsibility for the start up of a new secondary lead facility, plus
the existing aluminium and copper based operations. Following a
few years in that role, Ross moved back to Sydney where he was
assigned in 1978 to Besco Batteries, a Sims group subsidiary, then
introducing the first maintenance free batteries into Australia.
After a brief stint assisting on technical issues, he was promoted to
Marketing Director of Besco Batteries.
In 1982, Ross moved back to the Simsmetal side of the business
when he was appointed Assistant General Manager for Sims NSW
at Mascot, under Paul Clingan. He was in that position for about
12 months, and, following a one month role as General Manager
in Queensland, he was appointed General Manager NSW at Mascot
– a position he held until he moved to HO in 1987 to take up the
position of Group General Manager Finance & Administration.
Ross was appointed a Director of Simsmetal in 1984 and was
one of the six directors of Simsmetal when it re-listed in 1991. Ross
continues as one of the two executive directors on the Sims Group
parent company Board.
His current position is Executive Director, Group Finance and
Strategy.
Ross says, “I’ve seen many faces come and go and a lot of
changes over the years. My time at Sims has been both interesting
and varied.
“Sims has come out of an era where the senior guys worked
62
their way up based on their knowledge of the operations within
the company, and accordingly, have had detailed knowledge and a
passion for the scrap business. Our recruiting and graduate intake
programs over the last decade or so have allowed us to recruit
better educated tertiary qualified people and this has been
instrumental in assisting the company to move forward. These
are the new generation “scrappies”.
“The company is much more mature and sophisticated now,
having evolved from being pretty unsophisticated to a fully fledged
top ASX 100 public company and capable of hacking it with the
best in the world, as demonstrated by the company’s significant
growth and success overseas. It’s been a progression, in a relatively
short period of time, from a specialist Australian domestic scrap
company to a top ASX 100 public company. It has been great to be
associated with the company, its people and its growth, and I feel
proud to have played a role and been a contributor to that growth
and success story.”
Carmelo (“Charlie”) Bulzomi
Yard Supervisor - VIC
Charlie started as a metal sorter aged 17 – it was his first job,
then he learnt the operation of the overhead crane, and gradually
worked his way up to a yard supervisor with MP Metals, not far
from McDonald Rd, Brooklyn, VIC.
Charlie then transferred to McDonald Rd. Sims had opened up
a small yard in Kensington and Charlie worked there for 3 years. He
then moved back to McDonald Road, where he has been ever since.
Charlie remembers, “when I started we had a big quarry here
which I never believed would be filled in my lifetime, we didn’t
have a shredder, we only had an overhead crane. We then built an
overhead gantry and we thought we were the best because we had
this! Everyone wanted to work on it.
“When TAA closed, I was the first one to go to Essendon
airport, we had to chop up the wings of the plane and brought the
plane here to recycle, and then a few years ago, we did the same
with the Ansett planes.
“The way I see it, this company has progressed a lot since the
day I started. We have a lot better induction and training nowadays.
I hope the company goes for another 90 years!”
APPENDIX V
Sydney Harbour
Emmanuel Magri
Clerk - VIC
Fitter/Maintenance Leading Hand - VIC
Syd Harbour started working at Sims on 26th October 1966 at the
Noble Park yard as a Labourer. He spent the first 4 weeks breaking
cast iron with a 14 lb sledge hammer and earned £14 a week!
Syd has stayed at Noble Park throughout his long and
distinguished working life, graduating from Labourer, working the
overhead crane etc, and finally settling down in the weighbridge as
a clerk, after an accident to his right hand which required various
operations and 3 months off work (he comments that Sims were
extremely supportive of him and his family during this time) where
he has been for the last 22 years.
Syd has seen many yard and general managers come and go.
He fondly remembers Bill Hamilton as a true gentleman.
Syd says, “I see Sims as the world leader in recycling. I hope
this trend continues, and without hesitation, I can say that I have
thoroughly enjoyed the past 40 years with the company. My son
Dan joined the company 10 years ago. Sims always looks after those
who look after them, and if you give the company 100%, they give
back 150%.”
Emmanuel (“Manny”) Magri started working at W Brown & Sons
at Little Boundary Road in 1959, with his first job being a charge
weigher, weighing different types of material to make brass alloys.
He left in 1962 and returned in 1963, joining the maintenance
department, a job which he enjoyed as it was “very interesting work
making furnace tools and repairing machines”.
He left again in May 1966 for personal reasons, but rejoined in
July that same year. Some would say a glutton for punishment, but
Manny doesn’t see it that way!! When he did (finally) return in July
1966, he went right back into his previous job, and that is where he
has stayed for the last 41 years.
In 1969, when CMP took over W Brown & Sons, the aluminium
smelter had commenced construction and the plant became very
busy and much bigger. Manny then saw the takeover by Sims of
CMP and was promoted to Maintenance Leading Hand in 1986.
Manny was heavily involved in the rebuilding of the aluminium
plant in 1987, replacing every furnace. He says, “I remember the
enormous enthusiasm shown by all the employees at that time, and
can still remember the sense of pride and achievement shown by all
involved when the plant started on time, and without a glitch.
“I think Sims Group is a great company with a vision for the
future, and think that it can only get stronger and better”
Herbert Brown
Trailer Driver - QLD
Jack Racovalis
Resale Operative - VIC
Jack started out as a fitter in Johnson Bros in Preston, Victoria as a
16 year old, graduating to working on the cranes. Jack also welded,
operated a press, did a stint as an oxy cutter, and currently is in
the store working with beams and occasionally working with the
overhead crane.
Jack remembers “In the old days before the sheds were built, it
was quite difficult to work outside, because when it rained heavily,
we were almost knee deep in mud, sometimes you couldn’t even
see the metal on the ground!
“But in the last 5-6 years, the new buildings and areas have
changed a lot, it’s a lot cleaner, safer and as everything is under
cover, it’s a lot nicer and easier to work in”.
“Herbie” Brown started with Sims in South Brisbane (Montague
Road) yard, when it was owned by Abrahams & Williams. His first
position was working on the floor with the press. He has worked
a lot of positions in the past. In particular he worked the forklift,
loading and unloading, for approx 27 years. Herbie’s other positions
included:
Looking after ingots and brass rod
Running the shed
Cashier on Saturday mornings
Truck driver
Herbie has enjoyed all of his varied positions, and is now currently located at the Rocklea yard.
Herbie remembers having John Bangle, another QLD 40 year +
server, as his offsider on the truck. John also remembers it!
Herbie has never left his job for the simple reason that he has
always liked working in QLD and “all the guys in the yard and office
are great to work with, and if the past growth is anything to go by,
then things will just keep growing”.
63
APPENDIX V
Russell Chant
Yard/Ops Manager - NSW
Russell started as a weighbridge clerk aged 15 at Mascot, then he
moved to Greenacre, Newtown, Villawood and Auburn, holding the
position of metal buyer. He says that it is strange now that all those
yards are no longer part of Sims!
While Russell was at Auburn, he became Assistant Manager
and then finally Yard Manager. Then in 1978, he moved to St Marys
as Manager and stayed there for 8 years, moving back to Mascot
as NSW Scrap Operations Manager, then moving to Wetherill Park,
keeping the same position.
Russell commented, “when you are a non ferrous buyer and
sorting through stuff every day, it’s amazing exactly what stuff
people throw out”.
Russell remembers that the best thing he ever did 42 years ago
was get lost... he was on my way to another interview, but couldn’t
find the place, and happened to walk into the Mascot yard and
asked for a job. “From desperation to satisfaction... I love my job”
he says.
64
One of Russell’s most memorable times at Sims was when they
shredded a bus. It was the single largest item of machinery to go
through the St Marys shredder at the time. Russell also remembers:
“Once Kevin McGuiness came into the Mascot yard at about 6:30
am on a Sunday when I was doing a stint as a night watchman.
Kevin started taking photos. I approached him and informed him
that taking photos was not allowed, he queried it and I told him
that it was company policy, plus I drew his notice to the sign saying
“no photos on the property” in the yard. He just smiled and said
to me “That’s alright son, I put the sign up!” Kevin was Managing
Director at the time!
“I don’t think we are working as hard as we did in the old days,
we’re just working smarter!”
John Bangle
Business Manager - Qld
John applied for a position posted in the Courier Mail as a Junior
Clerk in December 1965 when he was 15. He started out as the
“office/mail boy” and then Doug Clugston, who was General
Manager at the time said to him “if you want to get on in this
business, you have to get downstairs and get your hands dirty”, so
in 1967, John started in the yard at South Brisbane (now sold) on
the scales as the “helper”.
From there he went on to driving trucks, and then to supervisor,
until his “repping” talents were discovered, and he then went on
the road with a utility buying scrap, weighing and paying and
generally gaining experience in all facets of sorting metal, both
ferrous and non ferrous.
He then worked his way up to Non Ferrous Trading Manager
(under Russell Gulliver) and has been on that path ever since, apart
from a short time in 1995, when he was appointed acting General
Manager QLD when Russell Gulliver left to head up the newly
formed UK office in Long Marston. John relinquished that role when
a more permanent employee, John Glyde assumed the position.
John says, “In my time, there has been a massive growth in the
company, and in my particular area, I remember all the families that
were in the trading business, you’d go out to their homes, stay with
them, load their scrap and then return. We were a lot more family
orientated.
“I would like to see the company keep on going the way it is
already heading, we have seen some big changes in safety, equipment and the way we do things, and we seem to be getting it right,
especially nowadays, with the advent of e-recycling, and it all gels.
“The company also treats its employees a lot better now than it
used to. In the old days, there was no dialogue, no-one knew how
much the company was making, or how it was going, we were all
mushrooms. The communication now is excellent, and I’m glad I
got into the scrap business, and I’m glad I’m with Sims. They are the
biggest and the best.”
APPENDIX V
Thomas Sorci
Tony Gonsalves
Divisional Manager - San Jose USA
Crane Operator - Sacramento USA
Tom started as a scale operator/cashier with Markovitz & Fox (M&F)
and relocated to the San Jose yard when the merger of M&F and
Sims took place.
While at M&F, Tom held the positions of Scale Operator/
Cashier, Ferrous Buyer, Non Ferrous Buyer, Supervisor, Assistant
Manager and finally Manager. When he moved over to Sims, Tom
took up the position of Divisional Manager - San Jose Facility, a
position he still holds today.
Tom has seen the vast changes from hand torches to the mega
shredders and the development of mechanical devices to process
material. As well as that, Tom has overseen the processing of
electrical and plastic household waste materials.
Tom is proud of the accomplishments of the San Jose yard
operationally and the increase of it’s non ferrous customer base.
Tom would like to see Sims continue to diversify and venture
into the new frontiers of saving resources for future generations.
Tony started work with Associated Metals Co, based in the
Sacramento yard. His first position was as an oxy cutter/burner.
Tony was cutting down 90 foot long fuel tanks!
Tony has always worked at the Sacramento yard and has held
many positions. He started off as a burner and then he has done
stints as a baler operator, a shear operator, a wheel press operator,
a truck driver, and finally a crane operator.
Tony says, “I have gone through good times here. One
memorable thing is the time we went on strike but that is a long
story. This company has always been a good company to work for.
I also remember when Bob Novack passed away. That was around
the time that we changed our company name from Associated to
Levin Metals.
“I commend the company for treating their employees well as
Sims currently is and even after I retire, which is in about two more
years. I wish everyone the best!”
Willie Bryant
Crane Operator - Long Beach USA
Willie started on January 9th, 1967, working on the cable cranes
with Hugo Neu Corporation. Most of the last 40 years, Willie has
stayed as a crane operator. For the last 10 years or so, Willie has
worked on hydraulic cranes. He is well known by all the customers,
has a great charisma and enjoys a very good relationship with all
co-workers.
Willie has an excellent safety record, and is a great example to
follow for the new generations.
Willie particularly remembers, “It was about 35 years ago when,
I remember, Rose Neu stopped me at work and told me about the
company’s Education program. Well she was a bit upset because
flyers had gone out about this program but no one had responded.
She was chewing me out asking me why I hadn’t responded and
why I didn’t want to help my daughter who was 6 years old at the
time but Rose didn’t know that, so I had to tell her that my daughter was too young. Now this stuck with me not because Rose didn’t
know that my daughter was 6, but because where I grew up no one
ever gave you something for free.
“Here was this company willing to help people send their kids
to school and they didn’t ask for anything in return. I thought this
was an idea ahead of it’s time for a company to help the children of
its employees get the money to get an education.
“My daughter was too young when Rose first told me about
the scholarship but years later she did get some help from the
scholarship program and now my daughter has earned two degree’s
and is very successful. “
65
APPENDIX V
66
Jose Hernandez
George Flores
Metal Sorter - San Jose USA
Crane Operator - San Jose USA
Jose Hernandez started working in the iron sorting area. Jose was
then moved to the brass sorting area, where he still works today.
Jose remembers in the past when it rained in the yards. At that
time, the iron sorting yards were not paved, and the area would
turn into mud.
Jose also mentioned that he remembers he was paid $1.25 per
hour when he started.
Jose is very keen and knowledgeable employee, especially on
the brasses. He hardly misses work, and, according to some of his
work mates, “could out work any of us any time.”
Jose says, “the company has grown to be very big. This is good,
because it employs more people, and the equipment we use now is
safer than it used to be.”
George started as a sorter in the iron dept at San Jose. George
has done a number of tasks over the years. He worked in the
transportation department and started driving trucks for Sims and
then George returned back to the San Jose yard, and did a stint as
the night shift foreman until the night shift was cancelled, before
taking on his final role as Crane Operator.
George naturally has a lot of memories, too many to mention,
but he does particularly remember the amount he was getting paid
net per week - $98.00. Things have changed a lot now!
APPENDIX V
Terence Bird
John Stinchcomb
General Manager Non Ferrous - UK
Operator - UK
Terry started his employment in 1967 aged 17 as a Weighbridge
Attendant at Birds Commercial Metals in Long Marston, a member
of the Bird Group of Companies, and after 3 years, was promoted
to Under-Manager. In 1971, he spent 6 months managing a
demolition project that involved the demolition of a large 6 storey
railway goods depot in Birmingham, after which he returned to
Long Marston and, after a short while, was promoted to the
position of Manager.
During his time as Manager for Long Marston, Terry has overseen both the installation of the largest shredder in the UK at the
time, and the installation of the heavy dense floatation plant.
Terry was made Works Director in the very early eighties and
become acting Managing Director from 1991 until 1995. 1995/96
saw the acquisition by Sims, and from 1995 to 2001, he managed
all of the Long Marston operations.
In 2001, Terry joined the non ferrous team to help build and
grow that business, and in 2002, became the UK Group Non
Ferrous Commercial manager and was promoted to General
Manager in January 2005, a position which he still holds today.
One of Terry’s specific memories was, “the fist time we started
up the shredder previously mentioned, for many reasons, one of
which was the fact that although the commissioning of the
shredder did not altogether go to plan (metal flying out the back,
the shredder jamming etc etc) I will always remember seeing first
hand the tremendous power of the shredder, in less then a minute
reducing a complete motor car down to sizes no bigger then your
fist, and to use a common phrase of today - “it was awesome!”.
John started working for Pearce’s scrap metals in 1962 as a General
Labourer. Pearce’s were then taken over by Phillips Services around
1998, and subsequently Philips were acquired by Sims in 2000.
John has seen 3 managers and numerous employees in the
45 years he has worked in Plymouth.
John says, “When I started, all the work was done by hand, the
loading and unloading of suppliers vehicles, there was no material
scrap handlers or forklift trucks, and health and safety was nonexistent. What were hard hats, boots and hi-visibility jackets??
“A lot of scrap in those days was brought in by the “Rag and
Bone man” on the back of a horse and cart, which we manually
handled off the back!
“The job in the old days was hard, dirty work - but enjoyable.
“Today you have a lot of mechanical machinery to carry out
these tasks - but it is still enjoyable!”
67
APPENDIX V
Robert “Barrie” Godfrey
Production Operator – Aston, UK
Barrie was first based in the PW Wards head office in October 1962
at the Albion Works in Sheffield, working in “off site” areas. The
yard used to run from the Tinsely yard, five in a gang, to other yards
in Doncaster and Wath-on-Dearne, knocking down pit wagons and
lifting rail.
“’owt to do with scrap!” says Barrie.
Barrie then moved to the Tinsely Depot, and worked at a
few yards doing a few things since then, before settling at the
Aston yard.
One familiar memory Barrie has is of five people in an old Minx
car with five sets of burning tackle in boot, and the car scrapping
close to the ground!!!
68
69
APPENDIX VI
THE FOLLOWING PEOPLE ARE THE “LONG SERVERS”
- THEY HAVE BEEN WITH SIMS FOR 30 YEARS AND OVER
30-39 years
Abelino Farias, Alan Dyke, Alan White, Alfonso Trujillo,
Alfredo Munoz, Andrew Vaughan, Anthony Whenan,
Armando Salgado, Batin Muhammad, Bill Daniel,
Barry Hoar, Bartolo Avalos, Boutours Abouharb, Brian Brown,
Brian Willicott, Carlo Centurino, Charlie Carlyon,
Clarence Jakes, Colin McLeod, Colin Stirland, Colin Warner,
Darryl Woodhouse, David Brown, David Holland, Dennis Haw,
Dogan Mustafa, Emigdio Hurtado, Enrique Delgado,
Eric Crampton, Filomeno Maldonado, Francisco Dominguez,
Francisco Gutierrez, Francisco Lara, Francisco Tinajero,
Frank Van-Es, Gary Armstrong, Gerald Lester, Graham Earley,
Greg Hewlett, Gregory Dipuccio, Guadalupe Castaneda,
Gualberto Gomez, Hector Lopez, Henry Robinson,
Humberto Gonzales, Jacinto Romero, James Milward,
Janet Freeman, Javier Hurtado, Jeffrey Evans, Jesse Garcia,
Jesus Ponce, John Bettencourt, John Binkowski, John Davidge,
John Droogsma, John Heatley, John Kirakava, John Pisano,
John Steadman, John Vick, Jose Chavarria, Jose Chavez,
Jose Yanez, Joseph Cody, Joseph Farrugia, Joseph Schiavone,
Joseph Taylor, Julian Barajas, Julio Terriquez, Lawrence Picking,
Leonard Fieldhouse, Leslie James, Marie Handscomb,
Martin Smith, Michael Cookson, Mitchell Salamoni,
Nigel Drury, Norman Jackson, Osvaldo Carrera,
Patricia Lancaster, Paul Blackmore, Pesa Tinilau, Peter Eady,
Peter Millar, Peter Taylor, Raul Corpus, Ray Cremona,
Ricardo Campos, Richard Catalan, Richard Shaw,
Richard Martin, Robert Fletcher, Robert Laughton,
Rodrigo Garcia, Ronald Icke, Ronald Te-Whare, Rory Burke,
Rudolph Gomez, Russell Harris, Sheila Walker, Sotero Hurtado,
Stephen Gear, Steven Carter, Terrance Manga, Terry Palmer,
Victor Bonett, Warwick Minnett, William Harris,
William Nicholls, William Tague, Yvonne Hughes.
70
APPENDIX VI
71
APPENDIX VII
EMPLOYEES WHO HAVE
COMPLETED 20-29 YEARS SERVICE
20-29 years
Adolf Hintz, Alan Allsopp, Alan Brodsky, Alan Golburn, Alexander Bourne,
Alexander McKerlie, Allan Carswell, Andrew Ford, Andrew Kelly,
Angela Guerrero, Angus Barrett, Anita Bloom, Anthony Williams,
Anthony Catafi, Anthony Carrillo, Antonio Cuevas, Barrie St John,
Barry Jones, Blagoja Stojanovski, Blas Amezcua, Brendan O’Connor,
Brian Gale, Bruce Barker, Bryan Roginson, Carlos Vazquez, Charlie Agius,
Christopher Webb, Clayton Goodson, Clayton Thompson, Clifford Cranham,
Colin Darby, Colin Fry, Craig Kaetler, Darron McGree, David Coble,
David Dring, David Goldie, David Norman, David Rogers, Deborah Gillam,
Desiderio Pena, Dmitar Kesic, Donald Marquette, Doug McLean,
Eduard Ortega, Edward Crawley, Eric Tarau, Faimanifo Sakaio, Felix Arnaz,
Francisco Martinez, Francisco Rojas, Fred Bega, Frederick Beck,
Gabriel Ruiz, Gary Barker, Gary Moore, Gary Vernon, Gayle Haghverdian,
Geoffrey Flight, George Borg, George Formosa, Gerardo Guerrero,
Gerome Lewis, Gina Flowers, Glen McIllhatton, Glyn Gossan,
Goce Jankulovski, Graeme Crompton, Graeme McGovern, Graeme Wallace,
Graham Patch, Harry Reeves, Helen Nalder, Horace Edwards, Ian Chadwick,
Ian Dangerfield, Ignacio Maldonado, Istvan Spitzmuller, Jack Brown,
James Behrendorff, James Bugge, James Finn, James Lawrence,
James McKendry, Jeremy Sutcliffe, Jerrold Hatchett, Jerry James,
Jimmie Buckland, John Densham, John Gainard, John Glyde, John Martinez,
John Rumpf, John Steer, John Williamson, Jorge Montano, Joseph Gibson,
Joseph Larvin, Juan Navarro, Juana Ferro, Judith Sossich, Kea Van,
Keith Egerton, Ken Katoa, Kenneth Manktelow, Kerry Johansen,
Kevin Fitzpatrick, Kevin Ho, Kevin Truscott, Ky Thien Mao, Lachman Khalsa,
Lak Sak Ou, Lance Townsend, Larry Zertuche, Laurence Hilton,
Lawrence Lee, Les Sitkei, Linda Mermet, Malcolm Billington,
Malcolm Richards, Manuel Nichols, Marco Gutierrez, Margarette Hopper,
Maria Sardella, Marian Skowronski, Mark Hambly, Mark Sgroi, Mato Kvesic,
Mehmet Uyrun, Michael Murray, Miguel Ayala, Milenko Matic, Neil Gillespie,
Norman Yates, Olivia Jelfs, Osman Isgit, Patrick Keke, Paul Lambert,
Paul Pezzali, Paul Wilson Jr, Paul Wright, Peter Gates, Phal Nhom,
Phil Mumby, Philip Fellows, Quinton Pope, Rafael Montano, Rafael Rocha,
Raymond Weston, Richard Shute, Rima Te-Waiti, Robert Clevenger,
Robert Drewett, Robert O’Brien, Robert Jackson, Rodney Tei, Roger Bennett,
Roland Haywood, Ross Stuart, Royce Mashburn, Ruben Yanez, Sally Clarke,
Sean Kelly, Sergio Gutierrez, Servando Ponce, Silvestre Quiroz, Siua Elone,
Son Nguyen, Sothy Nov, Stephen Carter, Stephen Cotton, Stuart Cohn,
Stuart Cottam, Stuart Oliver, Sukhdey Gill, Surat Thind, Takivaha Tupou,
Tang Thien Tram, Terry Adams, Thanh Truong, Thanh-Tung Bui, Thol Phon,
Tim Webber, Toby Bishop, Tony Singh, Tracy Wyard, Tran Sung,
Trevor Martin, Victor Rodriquez, Victoria Telly, Vincente Bravo,
Walter Dietrich, Wayne Ellis, Wayne Jones, Wilfredo Vady, William Logan.
72
APPENDIX VII
73
APPENDIX VII
74
APPENDIX VIII
TRIVIA AND TITBITS
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Moved HO from 1 Wilford St, Newtown to Mort Street Balmain
in late Jan/early Feb 1960
Moved HO from Mort Street Balmain to 8-12 Bridge St City in
September/October 1965
Moved HO from 8-12 Bridge St City to St Leonards in July/
August 1974. Property known as 621 Pacific Highway was
actually purchased in 1967 for a depot for $15,700, later
Simsmetal House was specifically built for HO – 6 levels –
building still there
Simsmetal House at Artarmon sold for $5,425,000 in March
1982. Staff moved to Peko Wallsend premises situated at
Unilever House, 1 Macquarie Street, Sydney in August 1982
Moved HO from 1 Macquarie Street to 10 Loftus Place Sydney in
1984
Moved HO from 10 Loftus Street Sydney to 41 McLaren Street
North Sydney in 1990
Paul Keith Mazoudier appointed Secretary in October 1974
Artarmon land (approx ¾ acre) purchased in May 1970 for
$200,000 (site of Simsmetal House St Leonards)
Newtown office was sold in March 1962 for £13,750
First Accountants conference held in Sydney on 22nd and 23rd
February 1963
First branch managers conference held in Sydney on 20th and
21st March 1964
Perth branch closed and assets sold in 1963
The Portsea house owned by Kevin McGuiness was refurnished
by the company and used by executives and nominated employees in November 1964 and subsequently sold around 1989
First travel insurance documented in 1964
First motor vehicle policy in 1965
1964 – Federal Government places a ban on the export of
copper, letter written to Rt Hon J J McEwen MP by Chairman,
then another dated 25th February 1966, response received
26 April 1966. Ban eventually lifted in 1990.
Turnings/treatment building etc at Mascot cost £41,094 in 1963
1963 – Board discussed changing name from A G Sims Ltd to
Simsmetal Ltd, however, said name change did not occur until
November 1968
Alcoa Agreement signed in 1970
Morts Dock purchased in 1960
April 1965 – Morts Dock sold for £52,000 per acre
(8 acres in total)
First bonuses paid to executives in 1959, first bonus to all staff
(with over 12 months service) in 1970
PRE 1958, branches existed in Auburn, Newtown, Mascot,
Artarmon, Melbourne, Hobart, Adelaide, Brisbane, Newcastle,
Perth, London,
4 Ricketty Street Mascot purchased May 1959
Canal Street, Mascot purchased in July 1971 for $51,000 per acre
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Alf Willings appointed Shipping Manager 26th July 1966
W R (Bill) Hamilton appointed Personal Assistant to Kevin
McGuiness 1st September 1966
First valuation of land and buildings in 1966 was $2,414,149
Subsequent valuation conducted in 1970 was $3,398,832
Subsequent valuation conducted in 1976 was $5,963,000
Subsequent valuation conducted in 1981 was $21,295,122
Subsequent valuation conducted in 1986 was $22,416,417
Valuation of land and buildings for NSW, VIC, TAS, SA and HO
in 1967 was $905,729
First forward selling (hedging) of US Dollars completed January
1968 to the amount of $4,431,000
MV “Simsmetal” chartered from Chandris Line in 1968 and
named by Chairman’s wife, Mrs Gilder – first of 3 vessels
Simsmetal (WA) Pty Ltd formed in 1969
Contract signed in March 1969 between Marubeni-Iida, The
Japan Steel Works Ltd and Simsmetal to ship scrap iron from
Australia to Japan
First computerised system was Remington Alpha Data System at
HO, purchased in January 1970 for a total of $19,553
Subsequent “miniaturised” Rank Basic 4 computer installed in
HO in 1977
•
•
•
•
•
Sims Superannuation Trustee Board formed in 1971, directors at
that time were:
J H Broinowski Sir Reginald Reed J P Darling
S L Edwards
J Diamond
K P McGuiness
B E Grellman
I E Figtree
The Sims Consolidated Group Superannuation Fund was also
established
Scrap yard at Kooragang Island commenced in 1974
John Crabb appointed acting General Manager NSW in 1974
1978 – Sims Demolition wins the contract to demolish the
White Bay Power Station
Name change from Simsmetal Pty Ltd to Simsmetal Ltd
Sheila Walker operating the Rank Basic 4 computer in 1977
75
APPENDIX VIII
THE NUMBERS
Year
1948
1949
1950
1951
1952
1953
1954
1955
1956
1957
1958
1959
1960
1961
1962
1963
1964
1965
1966
1967
1968
1969
1970
1971
1972
1973
1974
1975
1976
1977
1978
1979
*
Demolition of the white bay power station - 1978
76
Profits and Losses
Dividend
£10,895
£10,295
£12,432
8%
£39,633
10%
£72,477
10%
£58,670
10%
£49,403
10%
£95,933
10%
£122,166
10%
£182,122
10%
£136,131
10%
£156,818
10%
£193,720
10%
£190,983
6 2/3 %
(£292,697)
(£155,119)
6 2/3%
£301,463
£565,417
8 1/3 %
£1,314,798
12.5%
£1,379,087
12.5%
£1,504,321
15%
£1,269,354
15% *
$8,301,849
8.13¢
$3,097,000
7.5¢
$2,013,000
5.0¢
$3,285,000
5.5¢
$7,379,000
10¢
$10,768,000
10¢
$9,414,000
7.0¢
$6,584,000
2.5¢
($1,138,000)
2.5¢
trading suspended due to Peko Wallsend takeover
extra dividend of 3 cents per share
APPENDIX IX
ACQUISITIONS/JOINT VENTURES
Pre 1957: No information
1974:
Formfit of Australia Limited
Compunet Limited
H&D Metals Pty Ltd
Maingage Pty Ltd (renamed Sims Land Development Pty Ltd)
Clive Hall Pty Ltd
Hong Kong & Eastern (Japan) Ltd
1957:
Moreland Metal Company
1959:
Hang Fung Shipping & Trading Company Limited
D J Bigham & Son
1960:
L M Edwards Pty Limited
1975:
Woolcott Pty Limited (integrated into Sims Grasslands)
1961:
Agreement in principle for a JV with BHAS
Hang Fung (Australia) Pty Limited
1976:
Napier Bros Ltd (renamed Napier Grasslands)
J R Manton & Co Pty Ltd
Sold-A-Bar Products Ltd (New Zealand Metal Products – name
changed to Simsmetal Industries Limited)
Rhodes Constructions Pty Ltd
1962:
1963:
1964:
name change from Electro Chemical Metal Refining Co Pty Ltd,
which Sims established during the War for de-tinning, to
Tin Refiners Pty Limited.
Donson Products Ltd
Abrahams & Williams Pty Limited
Tin Refiners Pty Limited
Refined Irons Pty Limited
12 month Iron Ore Lease at Nimingarra signed
J & C Johnson Bros Pty Limited
1966:
JV of Anglo-Eastern Shipping Co. Limited
M P Metals Pty Limited (transport division)
1968:
Angelo and Bin
Heart Metal Company Pty Ltd
M P Metals Pty Limited (full takeover)
1970:
1971:
1972:
1973:
Mortdale Scrap Metal Company Pty Limited
Arscott Metal Company
JV of M&T Chemicals (Australia) Pty Ltd
JV between Universal Charterers and Coal & Allied (Sales) Pty Ltd
Bluff Collieries Pty Ltd
Consolidated Metal Products (including the major scrap
company in SA – W Brown & Sons Pty Limited)
Bell Bay Metal Co Pty Ltd
Pacmet Singapore Pte Ltd (renamed Simsmetal Singapore Pte Ltd)
Pacific Metals & Minerals Ltd (renamed Simsmetal (Hong Kong)
Limited
Malay States Shipping Company Sdn Bhd
Layne & Bowler (Australasia) Pty Limited
JV with Ngow Hock Co. Ltd in Thailand
Bryant Brothers Limited, New Zealand
J Krasnostein & Co Pty Ltd (operator of Sims Hardware stores)
Hines Metals Pty Ltd
Scott Metals
JV with Maingage Pty Ltd (renamed Sims Ventures Pty Ltd)
1990:
La Greca Waste Services Pty Ltd
C&C Recyclers Inc (USA)
1992:
Sims Pacific Metals Limited – JV between Simsmetal Industries
Limited, Pacific Metal Industries Limited, Simsmetal Limited,
Steel Products Limited and Fletcher Challenge Limited.
1994:
G F Denton & Sons Limited (renamed Sims Denton)
Affinity Metals
1995:
Sims Bird – JV of Birds Commercial Metals and Ward Ferrous
Metals. Simsmetal owning 51% and the Bird Group owning
49%. From this endeavour, numerous other properties and
companies were acquired:
D G Corbin & Sons
Lincoln Ferrous Metals Limited
Lincoln Metal & Waste Limited
Thos Ward Ltd
Thos Hill & Co Ltd
McIntyre Metals Ltd
McIntyre Metals – a 100% acquisition by Sims Bird in the
UK, expanding that division into the industrial North and
Midlands regions of England
Inmetals Trading Ltd (New Zealand)
1977:
Cheviot Industries Ltd
Pacific Tractor & Implement Co (integrated into Napier Grasslands)
1978:
JV – Schroder Darling & Co (renamed Bellshill Pty Ltd)
1979:
Judson Steel Co (US)
1980:
Newcastle Scrap Metal Co
1984:
Australian Refined Alloys (ARA) – JV between Peko Wallsend
Operations Ltd, Simsmetal Ltd, Sims Consolidated Ltd,
Sims Products Holdings Pty Ltd, Kinchella Pty Limited,
The Broken Hill Associated Smelters Proprietary Limited
and Australian Refined Alloys Pty Ltd
1996:
All States Waste Pty Ltd
Plant Nominees Pty Ltd
Waste Management Services Pty Ltd
Richmond Steel Recycling (RSR) – JV of 50% share purchase
agreement from Birmingham Steel Corporation.
JV between Garry Rush and Sims – Sims Rush Pty Limited
1997:
Non Ferrous Granulators Pty Ltd
McMahon Waste
Levin Metals Corporation (LMC) – USA
Peck Recycling in Richmond, Virginia
Pick’n Payless Auto Parts Self Service
PNG Recycling
1998:
Frankel Iron & Metal and Ferromet Inc, both based in California.
Completion of Simsmetal UK by the acquisition of 31%
holding by the Bird Group
PNG Recycling
2000:
Landfill Management Services
Philip Services (UK)
2004:
Mirec (Netherlands)
Tyrecycle and Encore Rubber (renamed Sims Tyrecycle)
2005:
Merger with Hugo Neu
2006:
Metall + Recycling GmbH (Germany)
2007:
E-Recycling assets of Noranda Recycling Inc
Sale of Hugo Neu share and merger with Mitsui
1986:
1969:
Scrap Resources A/Asia Pty Ltd
Sarlon Industries (plastics division)
1987:
1988:
Sarlon
Scrap Resources Group
1989:
Consolidated Extrusions Joint Venture – JV between Austral
Bronze Crane Copper Limited, Consolidated Extrusions Pty
Limited, Consolidated Extrusions Management Limited, Sims
Products Ltd, Kinchella Pty Ltd and Elders Resources NZFP
Limited
Simon Metal Products (30%) – JV between Sims Metal
Products Forgings Limited and Simsmetal Industries Limited
Wanless Scrap Metal Pty Ltd
Ivan Steer Metals (NZ)
I&T Waste
All Clean Sullage Pty Ltd
C&C Metals (USA)
77
APPENDIX X
DIRECTORS (OVER A 10 YEAR PERIOD)
78
1948 – 1958
1959 – 1968
1969 – 1978
1979 - 1988
1989 to date
C M Harvey
A G Sims
P E Low
L Williams
B G Firkin
A G Sims
P E Low
E L Girofi
L Williams
J E Thomson
K P McGuiness
W J Morgan
D N Clugston
J P Diamond
S L Edwards
G S Gilder
W J Morgan
R C Reed
G S Gilder
K P McGuiness
S L Edwards
R C Reed
J P Diamond
W J Morgan
D N Clugston
J H Broinowski
J Darling
B E Grellman
W R Hamilton
L C Smith
R J Ross
L A Lyons
G W Simpson
J H Broinowski
G W Simpson
J G Broinowski
P K Mazoudier
J Crabb
V M Johnson
L C Smith
J N Goodwin
D Boughton
L E Walsh
R K Gulliver
J Rockley
A D Ratner
A C Copeman
P A Robinson
R B Cunningham
M W Broomhead
D W Chambers
J Darling
R C Reed
B E Grellman
J P Diamond
P K Mazoudier
G B Lean
D S Stewart
W H Rutherford
I E Figtree
D J Barnett
G J Reaney
A R Edwards
R K Moore
G W Forster
Dr E Miller
D J Salier
J Crabb
Dr E Miller
G W Forster
W H Rutherford
D J Salier
R B Cunningham
G F Lord
P A Rayner
J W Cornelius
P K Mazoudier
J M Feeney
A C Copeman
K J Kirby
G N Brunsdon
J Sutcliffe
Dr R Every
P Varello
J Neu
M Iwanaga
C Renwick
SIMS SHARE PRICE
1992 -2007
APPENDIX XI
PHOTO GALLERY
79
APPENDIX XI
80
APPENDIX XI
81
APPENDIX XI
82
APPENDIX XI
83
APPENDIX XI
84
APPENDIX XI
85
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