Hunting plc

Hunting plc is a British-based supplier to the oil and gas industry. Some 27% of the business is owned by the Hunting family. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange.

History

The business was founded in 1874 by Charles Hunting, a veterinary surgeon, as a shipping business. The business, originally known as Hunting & Pattison, was managed by the founder's son, Charles Samuel Hunting, and comprised two sailing ships, the Genii and the Sylvia. In the 1890s the company invested in oil tankers and became a tanker broker.

In the 1930s and 1940s, it diversified into aircraft maintenance and manufacturing as well as air transport, establishing Hunting Aircraft in 1944 by the purchase of Percival Aircraft: this business was absorbed into the British Aircraft Corporation in 1959.

At the end of 1945, Hunting entered the airline business and established Hunting Air Travel Ltd, a business headquartered at Luton Airport. The new airline began commercial operations from Bovingdon Airport at the start of 1946. In 1951, Hunting Air Travel changed its name to Hunting Air Transport. Another change of name occurred in late-1953, when Hunting Air Transport became Hunting-Clan Air Transport. This change of name resulted from the Hunting family's decision to split the group and to transfer their airline business to a new holding company which they had set up together with the Scottish Clan Line, a rival shipping company owned by the Cayzer family.