Harlow & Jones

Harlow & Jones was a London-based steel and metals trading company which failed in 1989.

Founded in 1914, apparently as a currency trader, H&J moved into steel after the second world war. Steel was then in very short supply, and import/export licences were very valuable if you knew how to wangle them.

Small trading companies take big risks with relatively modest capital of their own, the rest being borrowed from banks or financed by other parties to the transaction. H&J came close to bankruptcy in the economic downturn of early 1980s, when it slimmed down from 100-odd people to about 30, leaving empty swathes of its prestigious David Hicks-designed Haymarket office (third floor, St Alban's House; whole building presently - 2008 - occupied by Burberry). After failed takeover negotiations with another London trader, Amari, H&J's October 1982 move to 99 Kensington High Street (4th floor) coincided with a revival in its fortunes as UK and international demand for steel improved through the 1980s.

H&J then specialised in importing steel to the UK from eastern Europe and to a lesser extent Latin America and western Europe. It was also active in international bulk trade between third countries (e.g. Brazil to Japan). The company was owned by the Panchaud family, the head of which was the late Gerald Panchaud, owner of the Mar Lodge estate in Scotland. He sold out to the H&J management in 1988, in course of which H&J's working capital shrank from £2 million to £500,000. In 1989 two particular trades heralded the onset of the early 1990s recession. First, a cargo of reinforcing bar from Argentina to the UK suddenly became hard to sell to the usual UK stockholders, and second - and fatally for the company - a cargo of Indian steel won by tender and shipped to the USA was similarly becalmed by falling demand.

The Indian tender was a disaster. Determined to make its mark against larger (and wiser) rivals, H&J paid too much. It tried to economise on shipping, which led to further expense as the ship chartered for the job proved difficult to load and too deep for the intended harbour (which had then to be dredged to get the boat in). Bankers Trust financed this adventure, and - to use Peter Segens' memorable expression, shouted across the office - it 'pulled the plug' when the ship was still steaming to the USA in April 1989. The company's planned move to Putney never happened, and the company was wound up by May.