Moritz Bunzl opens haberdashery business in Bratislava.
Filtrona’s journey was anything but easy. It all began in Bratislava with a small business in haberdashery.

After entering the rag trade, Bunzi family moves headquarters to Vienna, changing name to Bunzl & Biach.
The business was originally known as Emmanual Biach’s and became Bunzl & Biach under Bunzl’s three sons, after moving to Vienna in 1883. By then, Bunzl & Biach had moved into the rag trade.

Paper production is launched
The rag trade led the family into developing businesses producing textiles, as well as pulp and paper, with the opening of the company’s first paper mill at Ortmann in 1888.

Production of paper-based cigarette filters is launched.
The first move into cigarette filter production came in the 1920s. Perfection in production came by 1927 when Bunzl & Biach agreed to allow Aivaz (Boris Aivaz was the inventor of the cigarette filter device using crepe paper) to further develop his idea at the company’s Ortmann factory.

The Bunzl’s establish a new business in London, called Tissue Papers Ltd.
The upheaval in Central Europe forced the Jewish Bunzl family to flee Austria in the late 1930s. Most of the family emigrated to the United Kingdom and United States. Forced to rebuild from nothing, the Bunzls, then led by Hugo, George, and Martin Bunzl, founded a new company, Tissue Papers Ltd. in 1940.

Bunzl Pulp & Paper launches production of cellulose acetate-based cigarette filters; founding of American Filtrona by a branch of Bunzl family.
Cigarette filter became increasingly important as part of the group’s operations due to market trend and demand. By 1954, the American branch of the Bunzl family joined in, forming American Filtrona Corporation. Simultaneously, the development of a new cellulose acetate-based filter provided a new boost for the market and demand skyrocketed.

Bunzl lists as a public company on the London Stock Exchange
Consistent investment in production and innovation enabled the company to position itself as the world’s leading filter manufacturer. The company controlled a near-monopoly on the production of filters in the United Kingdom alone. With a strong positioning, the company went public to spur its growth exponentially.

Bunzl acquires parents company, Bunzl & Biach.
As the recognition of the danger posed by smoking became more widely accepted, diversification into the packaging industry began in the 1960s. Additionally, as part of Bunzl’s effort to reduce its reliance on cigarette filters, the company took over its parent company in the 1970.

Company begins developing plastics packaging and outsourcing services operations.
Bunzl is a diversified business with a fine paper distribution and manufacturing arm as the future Filtrona began to take shape.

Spinoff of Filtrona
The strong growth of Bunzl’s outsourcing services division led the group to split up its operations, spinning off its fiber and plastics technologies into a new publicly listed company, Filtrona.

Bunzl acquires American Filtrona
Acquisition of American Filtrona Corporation which delivered significant extra filter and bonded fibre technology and an extrusion business

Multiple acquisitions and restructuring to boost growth again.
Multiple acquisitions spanning across Netherlands, United States, and Switzerlands greatly boosted the growth in the paper and plastics divisions.

Bunzl merges plastics division into Filtrona

Spinoff of Filtrona PLC as independent company.