Sensient Technologies Corporation
Address:
777 East Wisconsin Avenue
Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53202-5304
U.S.A.
Telephone: (414) 271-6755
Toll Free: 800-558-9892
Fax: (414) 347-3785
http://www.sensient-tech.com
Statistics:
Public Company
Incorporated: 1882 as Meadow Springs Distillery Co.
Employees: 3,454
Sales: $816.9 million (2001)
Stock Exchanges: New York
Ticker Symbol: SXT
NAIC: 311423 Dried and Dehydrated Food Manufacturing; 311942 Spice and Extract Manufacturing; 325131 Inorganic Dye and Pigment Manufacturing; 325132 Synthetic Organic Dye and Pigment Manufacturing; 325199 All Other Basic Organic Chemical Manufacturing
Company Perspectives:
Sensient Technologies Corporation is a global company dedicated to creating high-quality, state-of-the-art colors, flavors, fragrances, specialty ingredients and services for enhancing a full range of foods, drugs, cosmetics, household and imaging products. Our name conveys what we do. We enhance the SENSory experience for consumers of our customers' products through specialized ingredIENTs, delivered via proprietary TECHNOLOGIES. "We bring life to products."
Key Dates:
1882: Meadow Springs Distillery Co. is founded by three Milwaukeans.
1887: Company's name is changed to National Distilling Company; firm begins producing yeast, with the major line called Red Star.
1919: With the beginning of Prohibition, company begins focusing more on yeast; name is changed again, to Red Star Yeast and Products Company.
1933: Following repeal of Prohibition, the firm begins producing beer and gin once again.
1937: Red Star exits from the distilling business; yeast and vinegar are now the main products.
1961: Universal Foods Company, a maker of institutional food products, is acquired; Red Star goes public.
1962: Red Star changes its name to Universal Foods Corporation.
1963: Stella Cheese Corporation is acquired.
Early 1970s:[fsps*2.5]Company expands into soft-drink bottling.
1979: Rogers Foods, Inc., producer of dehydrated onion and garlic, is acquired.
1984: Universal swaps its soft-drink bottling business for Warner-Jenkinson Company, Inc., thereby gaining entry into the food color and flavor business.
1985: Company enters the frozen potato business with the purchase of Idaho Frozen Foods.
1990: Universal exits from the cheese business; British flavoring producer Felton International is acquired.
1991: The food, drug, and cosmetic color business of Morton International, Inc. is acquired.
1994: Universal's frozen food unit is sold to ConAgra, Inc.
1999: Pointing Holdings Limited, a major food color producer based in the United Kingdom, is acquired.
2000: Universal Foods changes its name to Sensient Technologies Corporation.
2001: Sensient sells its Red Star Yeast & Products division to Lesaffre et Compagnie; the industrial dye business of Crompton Corporation is acquired.
Company History:
Sensient Technologies Corporation is a major international manufacturer and supplier of colors, flavors, fragrances, and other specialty ingredients used in the production of foods and beverages, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and personal care and household products. The company also produces ink-jet inks, chemicals for laser printing, and dehydrated vegetables as ingredients for food processors. Sensient's Flavors & Fragrances Group operates principally through two subsidiaries, Sensient Flavors Inc. and Rogers Foods, Inc., while a subsidiary called Warner-Jenkinson Company, Inc. heads up the Color Group. The company operates in more than 60 countries and generates more than half of its revenues outside the United States.
Sensient's history is marked by a series of shifts in focus. The firm was founded in the late 19th century as a distillery and then began concentrating on yeast--a byproduct of the distilling process--during Prohibition. Beginning in the early 1960s the company--by then known as Universal Foods Corporation--expanded into a variety of other food businesses, including soft-drink bottling, cheese, snack foods, and frozen foods. In the mid-1980s Universal entered the food color and flavor business. During the next decade, most of the food businesses were jettisoned, while the company put increasing emphasis on its ingredients operations. After the latter business was built up further through a string of acquisitions in the mid- to late 1990s, the firm's latest transformation came to a climax in the early 21st century when the yeast business was sold off and the Sensient Technologies name was adopted.
Distillery Beginnings
Meadow Springs Distillery Co., the earliest incarnation of Sensient Technologies, was founded in December 1882 by three Milwaukeans: Leopold Wirth, Gustav Niemeier, and Henry Koch, Jr. At the company's first stockholders' meeting the following month, Wirth was elected to the company's presidency, Niemeier became vice-president, and Koch secretary-treasurer. Wirth was a well-known merchant in Milwaukee, dealing in horses, furs, and a variety of other items. His entry into the distillery business probably came about as a result of one of his sideline business ventures. Wirth would purchase spent grain from area distillers, use it to fatten up thin, cheaply bought cattle, then sell the cattle at a sizeable profit. Opening a distillery was a way of compacting this operation, while at the same time tapping into the growing whiskey market. The major financial backer of Meadow Springs was Adolph C. Zinn, a local financier. William Bergenthal, the owner of a distillery and a successful outlet--the Wm. Bergenthal Wholesale Liquor Company--was named to manage day-to-day operations at the distillery.
Meadow Springs sold its first barrel of whiskey on July 5, 1883. The whiskey was produced at Bergenthal's distillery. A month later, the company bought its first piece of property, a choice plot at the bottom of a hill in the Menomonee Valley. To the one building that already stood on the property, Wirth added a grain elevator, a railroad siding, and a pipeline for the spent grain. In September, Koch resigned, and Bergenthal became the company's secretary, retaining his duties as general manager. About a week later, Wirth was forced to resign as president, when a number of surprise billings and overdue claims arrived from out of town, including writs of attachment for $2,000 from the Chicago Distilling Company, and debt notices from Philip D. Armour & Co., the Chicago packing firm. A stockholder and local cattle dealer named Henry Heilbronner was elected president.
In 1886, August Bergenthal, William's brother, replaced Niemeier as vice-president of Meadow Springs. A year later, both brothers were elected to the board of directors. At the same meeting, Levi Tabor was named president. In March of that year, however, both Tabor and William Bergenthal resigned during a dispute over a company purchase. Tabor was succeeded as president by August Grau, vice-president of the Bergenthal company and a recently elected director of Meadow Springs. August Bergenthal became secretary and treasurer. Grau would remain president of the company for 35 years. In May 1887, the name of the company was changed to National Distilling Company. Among the changes that accompanied the renaming of the firm was the addition of a filtering press for squeezing yeast. The primary line of yeast the company produced was called Red Star.
National Distilling began to expand in the 1890s. The company opened yeast distribution branches in several cities during this period, including Duluth, Chicago, Detroit, and Cleveland. National's net earnings for 1894 were over $112,000. In 1903 the company established a second manufacturing plant on the site of the recently purchased local DuPont Chemical Company facility.
Prohibition Era Shift to Yeast As Main Product
By 1917, National was operating over 30 yeast branches throughout the region, with major outlets in Louisville, Kansas City, and Detroit. In 1917 the government passed a measure outlawing the use of grains to make liquor, meaning that liquor could be sold but not manufactured. Two years later, the 18th Amendment to the Constitution created Prohibition. National responded by changing its name once again, this time to the name of its most important nonalcoholic product. It became Red Star Yeast and Products Company.
During Prohibition, Red Star focused increasingly on yeast production and distribution. John Wiedring, the company's laboratory chief, introduced a new process for making yeast by aeration in 1918. By 1921, Red Star was operating 50 branches throughout the eastern half of the United States. The company's yeast was marketed as a health food, and sales were brisk. In July 1922, new leadership was needed when Grau and Bergenthal died suddenly within a few weeks of each other. The presidency was assumed by Bruno Bergenthal, August's son. The company grew rapidly through the remainder of the 1920s. Its 27th Street and Cudahy manufacturing facilities were expanded and a higher quality drier was purchased during that time.
The repeal of Prohibition in 1933 created a dilemma for Red Star. The company needed to decide whether to reenter the liquor distilling business or to continue to concentrate on yeast production. Beer and gin were once again brought into production in 1933. By 1937, however, Red Star had pretty much committed to yeast and vinegar as its main products. Factors leading to this shift in direction included the bottoming out of the gin market in 1935, and a legal quarrel over the use of the National Distilling name waged against the National Distillers Products Corporation of New York. With its gin department already shut down, Red Star gave up its right to the National brand name for a settlement of about $20,000.
In 1938, a policy disagreement led to Bergenthal's resignation. He was replaced as president by Charles Wirth, Jr., grandson of Leopold Wirth, one of the company's founders. Bergenthal stayed on as chairman of the board until his retirement in 1940. During World War II, the government became interested in the nutritional qualities of yeast. Because active dry yeast was less perishable than earlier forms, it was considered an excellent food item for a mobilized Army. Therefore, huge amounts of the yeast were ordered from Red Star and other companies by the government to meet the baking needs of the growing military. When the war ended, Red Star began looking for ways to diversify its product line with related baking items. The company experimented for a short time with a frozen egg department, but this venture proved to be too risky and was quickly aborted.
Charles Wirth, Jr., died of a heart attack in 1950. He was succeeded as Red Star president by his cousin, Russell Wirth. Under Russell Wirth, Red Star diversified quite a bit within the realm of yeast products. During the 1950s, the variety of products the company was marketing included packaged yeast for rolls and mixes, consumer yeast, feed yeast for livestock, nutritional yeast for cereal and baby food, and, of course, compressed and dry yeast cakes for bakers. Pillsbury, using millions of packages of yeast supplied by Red Star, was the leader among companies marketing hot roll mixes, which enjoyed a period of great popularity during the 1950s. Because of its ability to anticipate the needs of the yeast market, and to tailor its products accordingly, Red Star was one of only five to emerge among major yeast producers in the country, from a group of about 24 that existed in the 1930s.
In 1951, Red Star opened a plant in New Orleans, enabling the company to better serve the southern market, as well as reduce the cost of transporting molasses from that region. Several acquisitions in the mid-1950s elevated Red Star to the status of nationwide yeast distributors. These included the purchases of Food Industry Corporation in Dallas, San Francisco's Consumer's Yeast Corporation, and the Peerless Yeast Company, also located in California. The company went international in the 1950s as well. A yeast production plant was opened in Cuba. Red Star had interests of up to 25 percent in yeast operations in Peru, the Philippines, Iran, Korea, and elsewhere. Agreements for technical services were entered in Guatemala and Colombia. Later in the 1950s, Red Star's Cudahy plant was closed when it was discovered that Lake Michigan had eroded much of the 140-foot cliffs on which the facility rested, leaving the complex in danger of toppling into the lake. The vinegar works that operated there were sold to the Richter Vinegar Company, and, in 1957, the ten-acre plot of land on which it was built was sold to Milwaukee County.
Diversifying and Emerging As Universal Foods in the 1960s
Red Star began to diversify outside of the yeast business in the early 1960s. In 1961 and 1962, the company purchased Universal Foods Company of Chicago, a maker of institutional food products, and Chili Products Corporation of Los Angeles, a company that produced paprika and chili peppers. The company went public in 1961, making stock available for the first time to people outside the small circle of founding families and their friends. Red Star's sales that year were $12.1 million. The following year, the company's name was once again changed to reflect the wider spectrum of its activities. The new name was Universal Foods Corporation. Universal made a major acquisition with the 1963 purchase of Stella Cheese Corporation. By 1965, the company's sales had grown to $31 million.
In 1965, Robert Foote became Universal's president, and Wirth became its chairperson. Around that time, the company began marketing an active dry yeast for use in wine production. By 1967, most of the major food companies in the United States were Universal customers, including General Mills, Kraft, Hormel, Gerber, and Ralston Purina. Universal purchased the National Yeast Company, a New Jersey firm, in 1968. By that time, the company, mainly by virtue of its acquisition of Stella, controlled about 20 percent of the nation's aged Italian cheese market. It also controlled 12 percent of the market for industrial yeast, and 30 percent of the chili powder and paprika production. In September 1968 Universal was stunned by the murder of Russell Wirth. August K. Bergenthal, Bruno's son, was convicted of the crime and sentenced to life imprisonment (he was paroled in 1981). It seemed that the younger Bergenthal harbored longstanding resentment regarding the events that led to his father's exit from the company's presidency.
Universal continued to grow steadily in the 1970s. Sales in the first half of the decade grew from $61 million in 1970 to $151 million in 1975. Two areas the company moved into heavily during the 1970s were soft-drink bottling and gourmet foods. Universal acquired the bottling franchises for 7-Up and other beverages in a number of states, starting with Michigan. The company entered the gourmet foods market with the 1972 acquisition of Lankor International Inc., and followed this up with the acquisitions of Rema Foods Inc. and Ramsey Imports, giving Universal a substantial foothold in the fancy processed foods market. In 1976, John Murray was elected president of Universal Foods. Foote, like his predecessor Wirth, stayed on as chairperson. In 1977, production began on a line of imitation cheeses. The cheese product was made from vegetable oil at costs that were 30 to 40 percent lower than those of the real item. That year, Universal common stock was first traded on the New York Stock Exchange.
In 1979, Universal purchased Rogers Foods, Inc., a California company engaged in the dehydration of onion and garlic. The early 1980s brought the expansion of the company's bottling operations, including the addition of the St. Louis franchises for Royal Crown Cola and Canada Dry. In 1981, the company bought out one of its longstanding competitors, the Federal Yeast Company, solidifying its position as a major player in the yeast business. By 1983, three of Universal's five divisions--cheese, beverages, and fermentation--were together accounting for about three-fourths of the company's sales, each providing about a quarter of the total. Over the next couple years, Universal chose to narrow its focus somewhat. In 1983, the company dismantled its snack food division, selling off its cookie and pretzel business. The following year, Universal left the bottling business, essentially trading it for entry into the food color and flavor business. This was accomplished by dealing four 7-Up bottling plants to Philip Morris in exchange for Warner-Jenkinson Co. plus about $10 million cash.
Universal moved into the frozen potato business in 1985 and 1986, with the purchases of Idaho Frozen Foods from Sara Lee Corporation, and of Rogers Walla Walla Inc. The two companies taken together had sold about $100 million worth of frozen potatoes to the food service industry the previous year. As the 1990s approached, Universal removed itself from a couple of the markets in which it had been operating. In 1988, the company divested its import division, which consisted of Rema Foods and Gourmet Products. In 1990 Universal got out of the cheese business, selling that division to INVUS Group, Ltd., a subsidiary of the Belgian firm R.T. Holding S.A. By that year, under chair and chief executive Guy Osborn, sales had reached over $873 million. Frozen potato products accounted for nearly 30 percent of the company's revenue for that year; the explosion in sales followed the 1987 introduction of a new curly-shaped, coated fry that proved very successful.
Meanwhile, the late 1980s also saw Universal fend off a hostile takeover bid. High Voltage Engineering Corp., a Burlington, Massachusetts, maker of industrial instruments and electrical parts, made several takeover offers, but the Universal board rejected the advances each time. High Voltage was controlled by New York investors, and the takeover attempts were made in partnership with S. & W. Berisford PLC, a U.K. food, beverage, and financial services company that had agreed to manage Universal Foods following a takeover. The hostile pursuit of Universal ended up in federal court, where High Voltage contended that Wisconsin's takeover law, which included statutes that protected the targeted party in a hostile takeover offer, was unconstitutional. In May 1989 a federal appeals court ruled that the law was in fact constitutional, and several months later the U.S. Supreme Court refused to take up the case, prompting High Voltage to abandon its bid.
Shifting Focus to Ingredients in the 1990s
In April 1990, Universal became a major force in the flavor market with the acquisition of the British flavoring producer Felton International. Another flavor company, Fantasy Flavors, an Illinois dairy flavoring company, was acquired the following year. Also in 1991, Universal purchased the food, drug, and cosmetic color business of Morton International, Inc. Universal reported record sales in 1992, in spite of an off year for the frozen potato business as a potato glut led to depressed pricing. The color division made a particularly strong showing in 1992, emerging as the market leader among North American companies in that field. That division was enlarged in 1993 through the purchase of Spectrum S.A. de C.V., a major Mexican food color distributor. In January 1994 Universal boosted its aroma chemicals business with the purchase of Destillaciones Garcia de la Fuente, S.A., based in Granada, Spain. This acquisition gave Universal entry into new areas of the aroma sector, such as fragrances used in personal care products and detergents.
Continuing its shift in emphasis to food ingredients and other specialty chemicals, Universal sold its frozen food unit in August 1994 to ConAgra, Inc. for $220 million in cash, leaving the company with just one food products business--yeast. The proceeds were used in part to fund an acquisition spree that further expanded the firm's ingredients operations. During 1994 Universal acquired the Biolux Group of Belgium, maker of flavor enhancers, nutritional ingredients, and other products derived from brewer's yeast; and Champlain Industries Limited, which was based in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, and produced flavorings and flavor enhancers. Universal became the largest vegetable dehydrator in Europe by purchasing three European dehydrated vegetable processors in 1994 and 1995: Mallow Foods of Ireland, Silva Laon of France, and the Dutch firm Top Foods. Universal thereby gained a European counterpart to its U.S. dehydrated product business, Rogers Foods. The emphasis on international growth resulted in a sharp increase in overseas sales: by fiscal 1995, when the company reported sales of $792.9 million, 40 percent of the revenues came from outside the United States--in contrast to the 6 percent figure of eight years earlier.
By 1996 Universal Foods had elbowed its way onto the list of the top ten flavor and fragrance firms in the world. In October of that year, Kenneth P. Manning was promoted to president and CEO of the company, having served as president and COO since 1992. Osborn continued as chairman only until April 1997 when Manning assumed that position as well. Under Manning's leadership, Universal continued its aggressive buying spree, entering new sectors--particularly nonfood areas--and new countries in the process. In early 1997 the company moved into the ink-jet ink market with the purchase of Tricon Colors, Inc., based in Elmwood Park, New Jersey. Universal's Latin American food color operations were strengthened with the September 1997 acquisition of Pyosa, S.A. de C.V., a Mexican firm. On the flavor side, Universal acquired another Mexico company, Arancia Ingredients Especiales, S.A. de C.V., in January 1998. Arancia, which had annual sales of $16 million, produced savory flavors and other food ingredients.
Three European firms were also acquired in 1998, continuing Universal's rapid expansion on that continent. In April DC Flavours Ltd., a U.K. producer of savory and seasonings flavors, was acquired. DC Flavours provided Universal with access to the rapidly growing European snack food sector, as the firm was one of the United Kingdom's leading flavor suppliers to that industry. Universal gained an all-important foothold in Germany, the largest flavor market in Europe, through the May purchase of Sundi GmbH, a firm that specialized in all-natural flavor ingredients. Then in September, Reggiana Antociani S.R.L., a natural color producer based near Parma, Italy, was acquired. Reggiana specialized in producing anthocyanin, an extract from grape skins used in fruit juices, flavored teas, wine coolers, and fruit fillings. To complete its six 1997 and 1998 acquisitions, Universal spent a total of $121.5 million.
Also during 1998, Universal sued two former employees for allegedly posting defamatory comments about the company on Internet message boards. In late 1999 the company settled one of the suits out of court, while the other was dismissed by the judge in the case. When Universal learned that the Milwaukee Business Journal was planning to run a story about the lawsuits, and that the story would include information from one of the defendants about a U.S. Department of Justice investigation of price-fixing in the yeast industry, the company asked a judge to block distribution of the business newspaper. The judge refused. These incidents garnered Universal a great deal of unwanted publicity.
Universal Foods spent $93.2 million on four acquisitions during 1999. Two companies were purchased in February: Les Colorants Wackherr and Quimica Universal. Wackherr, based in Paris, France, supplied colors for the cosmetics industry, while Quimica specialized in the production of carminic acid and annatto, natural colors used in food and other applications. In April, Universal significantly expanded its global color operations through the acquisition of Pointing Holdings Limited, a U.K. firm that ranked among the world's top five producers of food colors. Pointing, which also produced flavors and specialty chemicals for cosmetics and household products, had annual revenues of nearly $43 million, with 60 percent of that occurring in Europe and the remainder stemming from North America, South America, and Australia. Rounding out the 1999 deals was the August purchase of Nino Fornaciari fu Riccardo SNC, a natural food color company based in Reggio Emilio, Italy. Like Reggiana Antociani, Fornaciari was also a producer of anthocyanin. Universal Foods recorded net income of $80.1 million on revenue of $920.2 million for the 1999 fiscal year. Out of the revenue total, the flavors business was responsible for nearly $400 million; the colors division, nearly $250 million; and the fragrances unit, about $28 million. Universal's yeast business posted revenue of $140 million in 1999, with the remaining revenues coming from the firm's dehydrated products and Asia Pacific divisions.
Early 2000s: Jettisoning Yeast, Repositioning As Sensient Technologies
In the first month of 2000, Universal spent $49.4 million to complete two more acquisitions of color companies. Purchased first was Dr. Marcus GmbH, a leading maker of natural colors based in Hamburg, Germany. In addition to gaining new technologies, this buyout also gave Universal access to several new markets, including Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, and Romania. The second acquired company was High Ridge, Missouri-based Monarch Food Colors Inc., a producer of colors for the food, pharmaceutical, and cosmetics industries.
In August 2000 Universal Foods announced that it had reached an agreement to sell its Red Star Yeast & Products division to Lesaffre et Compagnie, a French yeast manufacturer. To highlight the shift in focus away from food products and toward colors, flavors, fragrances, and other ingredients for both food and nonfood products, the company changed its name to Sensient Technologies Corporation later in 2000. The name "Sensient" came from a combination of the words sensory, science, and ingredients. The sale of Red Star appeared to have fallen through in late 2000, however, after the U.S. Justice Department raised antitrust concerns. But in February 2001 a deal was reached whereby the government approved the takeover with the stipulation that Universal retain its 20 percent stake in Minn-Dak Yeast Company, Inc., a small yeast producer based in Wahpeton, North Dakota. Cash proceeds from the sale totaled $113 million. In conjunction with the divestment of the yeast business, Sensient reorganized itself into two main operating groups: flavors and fragrances, which now also included the dehydrated products business, and colors. The Asia Pacific division continued to operate separately, marketing the company's products in the Pacific Rim.
With the sale of the last of its food products businesses, Sensient could now devote its full attention to its faster growing specialty chemicals operations. Following the dozen acquisitions the company had completed since the beginning of 1997, there was a need for some consolidation of operations, so Sensient announced in December 2000 a restructuring involving the closure of plants in Missouri and the Netherlands and the elimination of 200 jobs from the workforce. In a further cost-saving move, an additional 200 positions were cut in April 2001.
Sensient began a new string of acquisitions in November 2001 with the purchases of Kimberly-Clark Printing Technology, Inc. from Kimberly-Clark Corporation. Through the acquired business, which was renamed Formulabs, Inc., Sensient expanded into several new areas, including wide-format graphic inks, textile inks, and other industrial inks. In December 2001 the company paid $32 million to acquire Crompton Corporation's industrial dye business, which was known as Crompton Colors. This business generated annual sales of about $40 million from the production of dyes used in paper and printing applications, plastics, and ink-jet printing ink. Sensient next purchased SynTec GmbH in January 2002. Based in Wolfen, Germany, SynTec produced electrophotography chemicals and dyes used in laser printers and copiers as well as specialty chemicals used in organic light emitting diode applications, such as cellular telephone screens and flat screen televisions. In March 2002 Sensient acquired the flavors and essential oil businesses of C. Melchers GmbH & Company, a supplier of flavors for coffees and teas as well as a wide range of essential oils, aroma chemicals, and other formulations for flavor, cosmetic, and fragrance applications. One month later, ECS Specialty Ink and Dyes of Morges, Switzerland, was acquired. ECS made inks for specialty printing. In September 2002 Sensient announced the acquisition of Cardre, Inc., a Plainfield, New Jersey, producer of specialty ingredients used in cosmetics applications and sunscreen products. The newly focused Sensient Technologies was likely to continue its expansion into new markets, new technologies, and new territories through further acquisitions.
Principal Subsidiaries: Flavor Burst, Inc.; Inter-Agro, USA, Inc.; Rogers Foods, Inc.; Sensient Technical Colors, LLC; Sensient Flavors Inc.; Sensient Flavors International, Inc.; Universal Holding Co., Inc.; Warner-Jenkinson Company, Inc.; Formulabs, Inc.; Monarch Food Colors L.P.; Cardre, Inc.; Promavil N.V. (Belgium); Freshfield Foods Limited (Ireland); DC Flavors Limited (U.K.); Ratina Participations, S.A. (Luxembourg); Reggiana Antociani Italia S.R.L. (Italy); Les Colorants Wackherr SA (France); Pointing Holdings Limited (U.K.); Dr. Marcus GmbH & Co. KG; Sensient India Private Limited; Reggiana-Warner Jenkinson S.R.L. (Italy); SynTec GmbH (Germany); C. Melchers GmbH & Company (Germany); ECS Specialty Inks and Dyes (Switzerland).
Principal Divisions: Asia Pacific Division.
Principal Operating Units: Flavors & Fragrances Group; Color Group.
Principal Competitors: International Flavors & Fragrances Inc.; McCormick & Company, Incorporated; Dragoco Gerberding and Co. AG; Kerry Group plc; BASF Aktiengesellschaft; Givauden S.A.; Firmenich S.A.; Northwestern Flavors, Inc.; Burns, Philp and Company Ltd.; Quest International Fragrance.
Further Reading:
- Bergquist, Lee, "Universal Nets Cash for Acquisitions," Milwaukee Sentinel, April 19, 1994, p. 1D.
- Brown, Paul B., "Solid, or Merely Stolid?" Forbes, December 5, 1983, p. 194.
- Byrne, Harlan S., "Universal Foods Corp.," Barron's, August 27, 1990, pp. 38+.
- Campanella, Frank W., "Big Cheese," Barron's, October 20, 1986, pp. 59+.
- ------, "Changing the Mix," Barron's, August 26, 1985, pp. 35+.
- Daykin, Tom, "Sensient Is Sued by Ex-Workers over Pay," Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, July 29, 2002, p. 1D.
- ------, "Sensient Targets Internet Critic," Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, March 5, 2002, p. 1D.
- ------, "Universal Foods Beats Its Drum," Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, January 24, 2000, p. 1D.
- ------, "Universal Foods Changes Its Name," Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, November 6, 2000, p. 1D.
- Daykin, Tom, and Joel Dresang, "Attacking Critics Can Backfire, Firm Finds: Suing Former Workers Has Brought Unwanted Press for Universal Foods Corp.," Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, September 25, 1999.
- Floreno, Anthony, "Universal Foods Intends to Take a Global Approach," Chemical Market Reporter, October 21, 1996, p. 29.
- Gallagher, Kathleen, "Bright Future Seen for Color Division of Universal Foods," Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, March 14, 1999.
- Gordon, Mitchell, "Yeasty Prospects," Barron's, November 7, 1983, pp. 51+.
- Hajewski, Doris, "French Firm Buys Red Star," Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, August 10, 2000, p. 15D.
- Holley, Paul, "Universal Hopes Wall Street Finds Makeover Attractive," Milwaukee Business Journal, April 13, 1996, pp. 1+.
- Kirchen, Rich, "In Aftermath of Attempted Takeover, Universal Foods Prospers," Milwaukee Business Journal, April 30, 1990, p. 13.
- ------, "Is Competition Taking the Curl Out of the Curley Q?," Milwaukee Business Journal, January 13, 1992, p. 9.
- Laderman, Jeffrey M., "Hungry Eyes on Universal Foods?," Business Week, October 10, 1988, p. 126.
- Landau, Peter, "Universal Foods Acquires Global Food Color Maker," Chemical Market Reporter, April 26, 1999, p. 13.
- ------, "Universal Foods Corporation Expands Its Colors Offering," Chemical Market Reporter, March 20, 2000, p. 24.
- Manning, Joe, "At the Helm of Universal: Manning Charts Course for Growth, Future," Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, March 1, 1999.
- "On the Rise," Barron's, April 20, 1981, pp. 45+.
- "Pizza to Go, Heavy on the Soybeans," Forbes, March 1, 1977.
- Sauer, Pamela, "Universal Foods Launches New Identity As Sensient Technologies," Chemical Market Reporter, November 13, 2000, p. 21.
- Schmitt, Bill, "Sensient Acquires German Flavors and Essential Oils Business," Chemical Week, April 3, 2002, p. 29.
- Torres, Craig, "Some Find Universal Foods a Tasty Morsel, Though Its French-Fry Business Now Is Soggy," Wall Street Journal, October 20, 1992, p. C2.
- "Universal Foods Adopting Unique Management Structure That Works," Milling and Baking News, August 29, 1989, pp. 16+
- "Universal Foods Enjoys Yeasty Record of Growth," Barron's, February 20, 1978.
- Universal Foods: The First 100 Years, Milwaukee: Universal Foods Corporation, 1982.
- "Universal Foods to Purchase Felton's International Flavors," Chemical Marketing Reporter, April 9, 1990.
- Walsh, Kerri, "Sensient Acquires Crompton's Industrial Colors Business," Chemical Week, December 12, 2002, p. 17.
- ------, "Sensient Takes on a New Color," Chemical Week, April 18, 2001, pp. 49, 51.
Source: International Directory of Company Histories, Vol. 52. St. James Press, 2003.
