| Type | Public (JSE: BAW) |
|---|---|
| Industry | Conglomerate |
| Founded | 1902 |
| Founder(s) | Ernest (Billy) Barlow |
| Headquarters | Sandton, South Africa |
| Key people |
Clive Thomson — CEO; |
| Services | Motor vehicle dealerships car rental industrial equipment logistics |
| Revenue | R20.2 Billion(FY 2010) |
| Operating income | R528 Million(FY 2010)[1] |
| Employees | 143,959[2] |
| Website | http://www.barloworld.com |
Barloworld Limited (JSE: BAW) is an industrial brand management company, founded in South Africa. Once a large conglomerate with many unrelated businesses, ranging at various times from mining, information technology and building materials to motor vehicles, it has repositioned itself as an industrial brand management company and unbundled many of its assets. Its headquarters are at the sprawling Barlow Park campus in Sandton, Johannesburg. It had been sponsor of the Barloword cycling team.
Barloworld was founded in Durban by Major Ernest (Billy) Barlow in 1902, selling wool products, and later engineering equipment. It was expanded by his son Charles Sydney (Punch) Barlow who expanded into the sale and service of Caterpillar products. Barlow entered the motor business, and eventually expanded into the manufacture of cement, paint, stainless steel and household appliances, as well as mining, through the acquisition of Rand Mines Limited, with the new company called Barlow Rand.
The group's subsidiaries include Barloworld Automotive, Barloworld Handling, Barloworld Logistics and Barloworld Equipment. Barloworld unbundled its interests in Pretoria Portland Cement and Barloworld Coatings (best known for the Plascon brand) in 2007.[3]