Despite US president Donald Trump’s trade policies slowing business somewhat, Gilbert Ullrich’s aluminium concern continues to be a major player in Australasia’s aluminium business.
Bucking an industry-wide slowdown, Ullrich Aluminium recently upgraded and expanded its Hamilton site, adding a new distribution centre named after Gilbert’s brother, Ernest. Though the business is based in Auckland, Ullrich said its heart was in Waikato.
The culprit for the slowdown is Donald Trump’s 10% tariff on aluminium imports, which was aimed primarily at the Chinese market but has hurt aluminium concerns in many western countries too. Despite this Gilbert, who is said to have supported Trump’s political rise, recently said his company’s expansion into different areas would help it in tough economic times to come.
Ullrich Aluminium began in a South Auckland garage in 1961 and today employs 740 people throughout Australasia. It has 46 facilities and annual sales of somewhere around $200 million, producing aluminium products for industries including marine, domestic, commercial and industrial. There are several members of the Ullrich family in the business, including Gilbert’s sons Ernest Jnr and Conrad.
Gilbert once spoke of working 15 hours a day, six hours a week, although he now appears to oversee the company from his retirement on Queensland’s Gold Coast. As well as his activities with Ullrich Aluminium he was once chairman of the NZ Pacific Business Council.
2018: $80 million