company traded as lse coa asx cgw nzx coa industry consumer and intermediate goods founded 1755 ; 261 years ago 1755 headquarters uxbridge middlesex uk key people mike clasper 1 chairman paul forman ceo simon boddie cfo products textile arts related revenue us 1 489.5 million 2015 2 operating income us 139.4 million 2015 2 net income us 39.4 million 2015 2 website www.coats.com coats group plc is a british multi national company . it is the world s largest manufacturer and distributor of sewing thread and supplies and the second largest manufacturer of zips and fasteners after ykk . contents 1 history 2 controversy 3 references 4 further reading history edit ferguslie thread mills in 1755 james and patrick clark began a loom equipment and silk thread business in paisley scotland . 3 in 1806 patrick clark invented a way of twisting cotton threads together to substitute for silk threads which were unavailable due to france s blockade of great britain and opened the first plant for manufacturing the cotton thread in 1812 . 4 in 1864 the clark family began manufacturing in newark new jersey u.s. as the clark thread co. 3 in 1802 james coats set up a weaving business also in paisley . in 1826 he opened a cotton mill at ferguslie to produce his own thread 5 and when he retired in 1830 his sons james & peter took up the business under the name of j. & p. coats . 4 the firm expanded internationally particularly to the usa . in 1890 coats listed on the london stock exchange 3 with a capital base of 5.7 m. 5 in 1952 j. & p. coats and the clark thread co. merged . 4 in 1961 a merger with patons and baldwins created coats patons . 3 in 1986 a merger with vantona viyella created coats viyella . 3 in 2003 guinness peat took coats private and in 2015 it returned to the market as coats group . 3 controversy edit in 2007 coats was fined 110 million by the european commission for participation in cartels with prym ykk and other companies to fix and manipulate the prices of zips and other fasteners and of the machinery to make them . one of the cartels ran for twenty one years . an appeal in 2012 to the general court of the european union was dismissed and the fine upheld . 6 7 references edit gpg names new non executive chairman of coats . nbr . 21 august 2013 . retrieved 24 january 2016 . a b c annual report for year ended 31 december 2015 pdf . coats . retrieved 17 september 2016 . a b c d e f history . coats . retrieved 24 january 2016 . a b c heritage . coats & clark . retrieved 24 january 2016 . a b records of coats viyella plc thread manufacturers paisley renfrewshire scotland . retrieved 2009 02 03 . aoife white 27 june 2012 . coats and ykk lose eu court challenges over antitrust fines . bloomberg . accessed march 2015 . judgment of the general court third chamber of 27 june 2012 . coats holdings ltd v european commission . competition agreements decisions and concerted practices markets for zip fasteners and other fasteners decision finding an infringement of article 81 ec coordinated price increases fixing of minimum prices customer sharing market sharing and exchange of other commercial information evidence single and continuous infringement limitation period rights of the defence fines guidelines . case t 439 07 . accessed march 2015 . further reading edit kim dong woon . from a family partnership to a corporate company j. & p. coats thread manufacturers textile history autumn 1994 vol . 25 issue 2 pp 185 225 kim dong woon . the british multinational enterprise in the united states before 1914 the case of j. & p. coats business history review winter 1998 vol . 72 issue 4 pp 523 52 kim dong woon . j. & p. coats in tsarist russia 1889 1917 business history review winter 1995 vol . 69 issue 4 pp 465 94 kininmonth kirsten w. the growth development and management of j. & p. coats ltd c. 1890 1960 an analysis of strategy and structure business history oct2006 vol . 48 issue 4 pp 551 579 knox william w. hanging by a thread the scottish cotton industry c. 1850 1914 1995 financial times coats poised to return to lse by mark wembridge v t e original companies of ft 30 in the united kingdom as of 1 july 1935 associated portland cement austin motor bass bolsover colliery callenders cables & construction coats courtaulds distillers dorman long dunlop rubber electrical & musical industries fine spinners and doublers general electric company guest keen & nettlefolds harrods hawker siddeley imperial chemical industries imperial tobacco international tea co. stores london brick murex patons and baldwins pinchin johnson & associates rolls royce tate & lyle turner & newall united steel companies vickers armstrongs watney combe & reid f. w. woolworth & co v t e nzx 50 companies of new zealand as of september 19 2016 a2 milk company air new zealand anz argosy property auckland international airport chorus coats contact energy ebos fisher & paykel healthcare fletcher building fonterra shareholders fund freightways genesis energy goodman property trust heartland bank infratil kathmandu kiwi property mainfreight mercury energy meridian energy metlifecare metro performance glass nuplex nzx new zealand refining orion health group port of tauranga precinct properties property for industry restaurant brands ryman healthcare scales skycity entertainment sky network television spark stride property summerset tower trade me trustpower vector vista vital healthcare property trust the warehouse westpac xero z energy former nzx 50 companies partial list affco amp apn news & media cavalier diligent corporation fisher & paykel appliances goodman fielder lion nathan michael hill oceanagold pacific edge pgg wrightson pike river coal pumpkin patch rakon skellerup steel & tube telstra tourism holdings retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title coats group & oldid 739847612 categories 1755 establishmentscompanies established in 1755companies established in the 18th centurytextile manufacturers of scotlandscottish brandsprivately held companies of the united kingdommanufacturing companies of scotlandcompanies based in middlesexcompanies formerly listed on the london stock exchange navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages deutschlietuvi portugu srom n edit links this page was last modified on 17 september 2016 at 11 48 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia 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