Proudly South African company, Eveready (Pty) Ltd. today (30 July 2009) announced the acquisition of House of York, a leading South African Brand of wooden kitchen ware and household products with a distribution range from South Africa to Namibia and Botswana.

Eveready believes that the acquisition of House of York will result in the growth of the House of York brand. The synergies between the established Eveready sales, marketing and distribution capacity will benefit both brands. Eveready’s world class local manufacturing capacity will also benefit from being fully utilised.

“The acquisition of another iconic South African Brand proves to consumers that we are innovative and have a good eye for identifying business opportunities that would not only be beneficial to Eveready as a business, but will also assist with job retention. While other companies are retrenching Eveready is working hard at finding ways to fight the economic downturn. Eveready’s acquisition of House of York illustrates our determination to keep ahead of our competitors” says Eveready Managing Director, Avijit Das.

With the acquisition of House of York by Eveready, the House of York Brand was not only saved from being lost to the South African consumer, but with the relocation to Port Elizabeth 130 new jobs were also created in the metro. In the current economic circumstances, this has brought joy to many people of which 27 year old Lindelwa Benzi is but one. Lindelwa has been job hunting unsuccessfully for 3 years before she started working at House of York. “This job gave me independence, self confidence and hope for the future” says Lindelwa.

Eveready’s environmentally conscious philosophy is maintained with House of York and the achievement of the Forestry Stewardship Council (F.S.C.) certification. This means that the wood for our products is sourced from ecologically sustainable forests. Eveready leads the market in renewable energy in South Africa with its cutting edge technology Kestrel Wind Turbines which create wind energy solutions for customers around the world. Eveready also provides a full range of ESL (energy saving lamps) and is the only manufacturer of this product in South Africa.

Eveready, established in 1937, is the only dry cell battery manufacturer in South Africa. Since Eveready became an independent South African company in 2003, it has continued to grow its product offering for the local FMCG industry as well as the global renewable energy market. The addition of the House of York range of products to our wide range of battery, battery appliances and lighting products, places Eveready in a strong position in the non-food FMCG market. As many of these products are manufactured in our world class facility in Port Elizabeth, Eveready’s status as a proudly South African company continues to grow.

Visit the HOUSE OF YORK webpage