Swire Group organisational diagram Swire Fast Facts

Swire's business interests range from aviation to property, retail, marine services, trading and agriculture

Swire

Swire's business interests range from aviation to property, retail, marine services, trading and agriculture

Finlay's tea plantation, Sri Lanka

Swire encompasses a wide range of commercial activities and its interests span five continents. Swire’s principal areas of operation are in the Asia Pacific region and centre on Greater China. The Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong is home to publicly quoted Swire Pacific, whose core businesses are grouped under five operating divisions: Property, Aviation, Beverages, Marine Services and Trading & Industrial. John Swire & Sons Limited, the Swire group’s parent company, is headquartered in London, and in addition to its 34% shareholding in Swire Pacific, controls a range of wholly owned businesses, including The China Navigation Company. Other activities include cold storage (principally in Australia and the USA), road transport and agriculture. Clyde Agriculture is one of Australia’s largest pastoral companies with almost two million acres in New South Wales and Southern Queensland, its main produce being cotton, lamb and beef; James Finlay is a UK tea trader with estates in East Africa and Sri Lanka; Steamships Trading is Papua New Guinea’s largest trading group, whilst Aberdeen-based Swire Oilfield Services provides services to the offshore oil industry.

Swire Pacific

Since 1974, the majority of Swire’s Asian businesses have come under the aegis of Swire Pacific Limited, which is listed on the Hong Kong stock market. The Swire Pacific group’s principal interests include Swire Properties, one of Hong Kong’s best known property developers and managers, with additional interests in Mainland China and Miami, and Cathay Pacific Airways, one of the world’s leading airlines. Cathay Pacific also owns regional airline Dragonair and has a substantial shareholding in all-cargo carrier Air Hong Kong; additional aviation interests include aircraft engineering, inflight catering and ramp handling.

Swire Beverage facility, Sha Tin, HK

Swire is an Anchor Bottler for The Coca-Cola Company, with a franchise territory covering Hong Kong, Taiwan, seven provinces in Mainland China and parts of 11 states in the USA; this represents a total franchise population of around 433 million. Swire Pacific’s Marine Services division includes Swire Pacific Offshore, one of the world’s leading providers of offshore support services to the international oil and gas industry. The division also includes a 50% shareholding in the HUD Group, which provides dockyard services in Hong Kong and also owns and operates Hongkong Salvage & Towage Limited.

Audi franchise

Swire Pacific’s Trading & Industrial division meanwhile includes the distribution of motor vehicles in Taiwan, where the group holds exclusive franchises for Audi, Volkswagen, Kia and Harley-Davidson, and a range of branded athletic and leisurewear in Hong Kong and Mainland China; Swire also operates leading sportswear chains, Marathon Sports, Gigasports, and Catalog. Industrial interests range from the manufacture of aluminium cans and paint to waste handling.