Saft Groupe S.A.
 |
|
| Société anonyme | |
| Traded as | Euronext: SAFT |
| Industry | Batteries |
| Founded | 1918 |
| Founder | Victor Hérold |
| Headquarters | Bagnolet, France |
|
Area served
|
Worldwide |
|
Key people
|
Ghislain Lescuyer (Chairman and CEO) |
| Revenue | €628.7 million (2011) |
| €79.9 million (2011) | |
| Profit | €75 million (2011) |
| Total assets | €406.6 million (2011) |
| Total equity | €1.01 billion (2011) |
|
Number of employees
|
4100 |
| Website | Saftbatteries |
Saft is a company involved in the design, the development and the manufacturing of batteries used in transport, industry and defense. Headquartered in France, it has an international presence.
The Société des Accumulateurs Fixes et de Traction (SAFT) was founded in 1918, mainly by Victor Hérold, which since 1913 had been manufacturing batteries for the luggage carts that were used in railway stations and for the lighting of the locomotives from the Paris-Lyon-Marseille Company (PLM). In 1924, the company was partially listed on the Paris Bourse. In 1928, the Compagnie Générale Electrique (Alcatel) purchased it. In 1949, it introduced a new type of alkaline battery. The company widened its range of activities and markets, including power plants, telephone systems and industries in general. It introduced a revolutionary manufacturing system for sintered plates, which had a great impact in the aeronautic field. In 1953, the US Naval Air Command requested 2000 batteries of 24 V. The contract with the US military was of US$8,951,493 in 2017 dollars. In 1980, together with PSA, Saft conducted a study to evaluate the potential of using batteries to power electric cars. During the next years, the investment was focused on built a sophisticated robotic assembly line.
In the 1940s, Saft opened a subsidiary in the United Kingdom and, in the '70s, one in the United States. In the '80s, the company settled in Singapore and continued its expansion. It became the leading manufacturer of nickel-cadmium batteries both in the aviation sector and in the railway sector. In 1995 Alcatel delisted the company from the stock market and acquired a 100 percent of its shares. Later, Saft purchased Nife and Alcad, its main rivals, as well as the Czech company Ferak. In 2001 it suffered a setback and sold facilities in Korea and Mexico. The same year it acquired from Invensys plc the American company Hawker Eternacell, a leading provider of lithium batteries to the American and British armed forces. It also took control of the American company ASB and Sonnenschein Lithium. In 2003, it purchased the German company Friemann und Wolf Batterietechnik GmbH (Friwo), and the assets of Emisa and Centra, from Exide.
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Wikipedia