For a company that is part of an international operation employing thousands of people, and with a central part of its business based in the region, Johnson Matthey maintains a surprisingly low profile. Deborah Johnson investigates

JOHNSON MATTHEY is a true leader in its field. The speciality chemicals company trades from 30 countries, and has gained a reputation as one of the world's leading technology and research firms during its near 200-year history.

Listed on the stock market and a member of the FTSE 100, it employs almost 8,000 people globally, through its three divisions it sees growth in its multi-billion pound turnover almost year on year.

However, for a firm with such a huge presence in the global chemical industry, its presence in the North-East can often be underestimated.

Johnson Matthey's international process technologies business is managed from its headquarters in Billingham, Teesside, which researches, develops and supplies base and precious metal catalysts to a range of multinational gas and process industries.

It is the centrepiece of an operation which includes a manufacturing site in Clitheroe, Lancashire, and sister bases in the US, Trinidad, Russia, Europe, Kuala Lumpa, Bahrain, and China.

And as well as pioneering world-leading research from its operation in the North-East, the company is also one of the area's main employers, with 600 staff.

Four other businesses also form part of the group's Teesside operation - chemical licensing and development company Davy Process Technology, based in Stockton; Vertec, in Haverton Hill, which makes inks and coatings from its purpose-built base; Billinghambased diagnostics company Tracerco; and Syngas, its gas process and refinery business.

And as well as being a major company in its own right, Johnson Matthey also contributes to the success of the rapidly-developing Teesside process and chemical cluster, which is expected to play the central role in growing the UK's process industry from £9bn to £15bn within the next five years.

Peter Sheen, communications and corporate responsibility director for the Teesside-based division, says the company is a success story with a significant part based here in the region.

"We haven't made a big deal about our success or shouted it from the rooftops, but there is a really important part of what we do based in Billingham and on Teesside," he says. "Both through the process technologies catalyst business and our other businesses on Teesside, what we do here plays a big part in what happens in Johnson Matthey both in this country, and around the world.

"We are proud of the work we do, and have a strong belief that supplying our catalysts is not the end of the line. It's like getting a new washing machine delivered, and being told there it is, now get on with it.' We build on the relationship we develop with the client by delivering the catalyst, installing it, and taking the old one away for recycling.

"And we're also not afraid to work alongside our competitors and supply them with our products - for example, Aker Kvaerner on Teesside works with Davy, and Johnson Matthey works with BP at Seal Sands, giving them catalysts to extract sulphur and mercury. They're just two of the relationships we've got, it's an area we're always looking to develop."

Johnson Matthey established its presence on Teesside in 2002, when it moved into premises formerly occupied by the agricultural division of ICI. Its work is widely recognised as being market-leading, and being a centrepiece of the group.

The wider group, based in Hertfordshire, has three core divisions - precious metal products, fine chemicals and catalysts, and environmental technologies, which includes the Teesside operations.

"As well as its catalyst development, Johnson Matthey also works extensively in fabricating and distributing platinum group metals and is regarded as a market leader in the refining of gold and silver.

"We are a business that has grown in stages in the North- East, and now are a major contributor to the fields of research and development, and to environmental issues in the group," says Peter.

Alongside its commercial success and reputation in the fields of research and development, the firm has been formally recognised for its contribution to the environment with a Queen's Award for Enterprise - widely recognised as the most prestigious accolades in business - which it received last year. Amongst its environmental work on a local scale is its support of the Nature's World park near Middlesbrough, which was the venue for the award presentation.

"We do a lot in the community on Teesside, and Nature's World forms an important aspect of that work through our commitment to tackling climate change. We also work with schools in the area, and sponsor the Cleveland Theatre School.

These are very important to us, and we're keen to show our commitment to Teesside and give something to the local area," says Peter. "Business in the community and the positive impact it has is something we're keen to sustain."