December 19, 2007 -- Engineering firm GKN, which is to take over an Airbus factory in Filton, western England, has a colourful history that dates back to Britain's industrial revolution during the 18th century.

Born almost 250 years ago, GKN has transformed from an iron works into a vast global subcontractor that is specialised in high-end aerospace and automotive technology and has operations stretching across more than 30 countries.

On Wednesday, European aerospace giant EADS named three firms -- also including Germany's MT Aerospace and Latecoere of France -- to take over its six Airbus plants dotted around Europe.

The Filton plant, which employs 6,000 staff, designs and manufactures wings for Airbus planes including the A380 superjumbo, which is the world's biggest passenger aircraft.

GKN prides itself as being "at the heart" of vehicles and aircraft produced by the world's leading automotive and aerospace manufacturers, according to the company's website.

The British group, which is listed on the London stock market's second-tier FTSE 250 shares index, began life in 1759 as an iron works operator in the village of Dowlais, South Wales.

GKN, which was then known as the Dowlais Iron Company, boasted the largest iron works in the world and operated 18 blast furnaces that employed 7,300 people.

In the 1980s, the group switched its focus away from metal production as it came under pressure from cheaper imports, a declining global steel industry and widespread overcapacity.

Today, GKN is geared towards car and aircraft engineering. It has more than 40,000 staff at its subsidiaries and joint ventures at 200 production sites that are mostly in Europe and the United States.

In 2006, GKN generated annual pre-tax profit of 221 million pounds (308 million euros, 443 million dollars) on sales of 3.6 billion pounds.

EADS did not reveal how much money the group would raise from the Airbus divestments, which are a vital component of a radical cost-cutting overhaul at its long-suffering Airbus division.

Source: Agence France Presse