The company’s primary platform for growth, however, is in organoclays and rheological additives, which control the viscosity of liquids such as paints, foods, drilling muds and cosmetics. In the pigments market, Elementis has achieved a leading position in iron oxide pigments, which are used in the coatings and construction sectors.

The company’s fourth business is specialty rubber, in which it has developed a product with unique wet abrasion properties that has proved very valuable to the mining industry.

The company’s unwavering commitment to technological leadership has given it strong brand recognition in all four businesses. This was further rewarded in 2001 with a prestigious Queen’s Award for Innovation. While the manufacturing side is at the heart of the industry, Elementis prefers to consider the market from the clients’ point of view and focuses on applications to their products rather than the products themselves.

“We chose to spend our capital on research & development projects rather than grow wildly through acquisitions,” sums up Geoff Gaywood, who took over as chief executive two years ago. Elementis is expanding steadily in China, and has identified several interesting opportunities for partnerships in Japan.

“We see ourselves as a first class marketing platform in specialty chemicals,” he adds, “and are in advanced talks with several companies to form a marketing alliance or licensing agreement there.”