Swire Beverages history

The Swire Group, started by John Swire (1793–1847), had its beginnings as a modest Liverpool import-export company started in the early years of the 19th century.

In 1855 John Samuel Swire traveled to the former British penal colony of Australia.

In 1861, John Swire & Sons Limited began to trade with China through agents Augustine Heard & Co.

In 1866, in partnership with R.S. Butterfield, Butterfield & Swire was established in Shanghai.

In 1867 they opened an office together in Shanghai under the name of Butterfield & Swire.

By 1871 Swire's headquarters had been moved from Liverpool to London, and a third Far East office was opened in the British Colony of Hong Kong.

Swire further diversified its business in 1883 when it created the Taikoo Sugar Refinery in Hong Kong with the intention of breaking Jardine Matheson's monopoly on sugar.

John Kidston Swire, grandson of John Samuel Swire, succeeded his father as director of the company in 1920.

On December 1, 1941, six days before the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japanese troops invaded Hong Kong.

1945: By the end of World War II, more than half of Swire's ships, the sugar refinery, and the dockyard have been destroyed.

The war was won in 1949 by the Communists, who renounced all agreements concluded by the Nationalist government.

1950: Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering Company is formed as a joint venture, with B&S as one of the partners.

John Kidston Swire retired as director of John Swire & Sons in 1968, leaving the company in the care of his two sons, named John and Adrian.

1973: The Taikoo Dockyard company is renamed Taikoo Swire.

In 1974, Butterfield & Swire in Hong Kong was renamed John Swire & Sons (H.K.) Ltd.”

Swire Properties began work on its first major commercial property development, Cityplaza, the first phase of which opened in 1982.

When John Kidston Swire died in 1983, the parent company of the Swire financial empire, John Swire & Sons, Ltd., remained a privately owned family concern based in London.

1987: The Chinese government, through CITIC Pacific Ltd., purchases a 12.5 percent stake in Cathay Pacific.

In the meantime, Peter Sutch was appointed chairman of Swire Pacific in 1992.

Cathay Pacific followed up with the 1994 purchase of a 75 percent interest in AHK Air Hong Kong Limited, an all-cargo airline.

Profits at Swire Pacific fell precipitously in 1998, amounting to only HK$1.76 billion.

Profits for 2002 totaled HK$5.4 billion, a 31 percent increase over the preceding year, as Swire Pacific's aviation division achieved a sharp turnaround thanks to increased passenger and cargo demand.

2003: The war in Iraq and the SARS outbreak lead to a 75 percent reduction in passenger traffic and Cathay Pacific cuts back its schedule.