April 2001 -- 140th Anniversary Special Edition
Year joined, 1910
Connell Brothers Company (HK) Limited
A division of Wilbur Ellis Company, based in San
Francisco, Connell Bros has been a trading company in Hong Kong for 100 years. This has
now spread to an office in Guangzhou and Shanghai & Beijing. Divisions include
consumer products, chemicals to paint, ink, plastics industry, electrical busway &
generators, pumps & meters, to oil & gas industry, among others.
Year joined, 1911
Nestle Hong Kong
Limited
In the mid-1860s Henri Nestle, a trained pharmacist, established Nestle, which merged
in 1905 and became known as the Nestle and Anglo-Swiss Milk Company. The company's
condensed-milk exports increased rapidly as the company replaced sales agents with local
subsidiary companies. In 1907, the company began full-scale manufacturing in Australia,
its second-largest export market. Warehouses were built in Singapore, Hong Kong, and
Bombay to supply the rapidly growing Asian markets.
Year joined, 1915
A S Watson & Company Limited
A S Watson & Co Ltd began as a small
dispensary in Guangzhou, China, in 1828, opened in Hong Kong in 1841, and became one of
the first companies in the world to produce carbonated soft drinks. By the turn of the
century, A S Watson had become a major trading force in Hong Kong, the Mainland, and the
Philippines, with more than 100 retailing and dispensing branches.
In Hong Kong, the group has approximately 350 stores and continues to
grow its three established retail names: PARKnSHOP supermarkets, Watson's personal care
stores, and Fortress, selling domestic electronic appliances. In 1998, the group
introduced the first Watson's Wine Cellar to Hong Kong offering exclusive and
competitively priced wines.
Year joined, 1915
Wilkinson & Grist
Wilkinson & Grist is one of Hong Kong's oldest and best known firms
of lawyers. Since its establishment in about 1860, its members have represented many of
the world's leading corporations and financial institutions. The firm has a close
association with many established firms of lawyers with international prominence in
business, banking, trade and investment transactions around the world.
Year joined, 1916
The Dairy Farm Company Limited
Dairy Farm was incorporated by Sir Patrick Manson, a Scottish surgeon, and five
prominent Hong Kong businessmen in 1886. With an initial working capital of HK$30,000, a
farm was established at Pokfulam, stocked with 80 head of cattle imported from Britain and
staffed by British livestock experts. Personnel initially had to contend with massive
problems in the herd caused by disease and the unfamiliar climate. The Dairy Farm pioneers
were not to be deterred, however, and persevered until the enterprise was thriving.
Dairy Farm at Chi Fu, Pokfulam, in the 1980s.
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