It was back in the early 1920s that Hall & Pickles established a South African subsidiary, subsequently setting up offices in Boksburg, Cape Town and Port Elizabeth, and in 1962 created a division called HP Labelling to cater for in-house printing of metal labels and tags for the company’s steel products.
In 2000, Hall Engineering – a public listed company in the UK – underwent a management buyout and delisted, at the same time deciding to dispose of its worldwide operations, including South Africa.
As a result, Macsteel purchased Hall & Pickles’ steel operations in Southern Africa, while HP Labelling was bought out by its management team.
However, while that episode marked the end of one era it also marked the beginning of another – the emergence of HP Labelling’s current success story.
Since its early days – now 50 years ago – HP Labelling has expanded enormously in terms of operations and technology, to become acknowledged as one of South Africa’s foremost labelling groups – in fact, boasting the largest total number of label printing presses of any label printer in this country. And, while still producing metal tags, HP Labelling now supplies the full spectrum of labelling products, including pressure-sensitive, wraparound, promotional and peel-and-read labels.
Aside from its enormous label printing capacity, the company’s directors also pride themselves on offering unparalleled service and top-quality products to a growing number of customers nationwide and throughout Southern Africa.
The online pages tell the story in greater detail.