In 1907 H. E.
Gosch & Co.
sought after partners and
/ or factories abroad and beyond
Otto Miram in Kassel in Germany
was a factory in Belgium
interesting because it was
almost duty free import of raw
materials and wages were half
than in Denmark.
Moreover, export conditions were
less stringent than in Denmark .
After almost a year of searching
cooperation with Belgium's
largest factory , L. Cobbaert &
Prove in Ninove was reached.
After a trial period of one year
in 1908 an agreement to acquire
the factory was reached, the
company Københavns Export
Tændstikfabrik was formed as the
direct owner with addresses both
in Copenhagen and in Ninove .
The Belgian company was bought
for 300,000 Belgian francs plus
10,000 francs in shares.
The presidents of the new
company was Folmer Preisler and
Hjalmar Madsen, both presidents
of HE
Gosch & Co . , Also joined the
board along with Oscar Davidsen
and two members from Belgium.
The factory marketed itself
under the ticker KEK for
Københavns Export
TændstikfabriK
.
Immediately after the
acquisition KEK bought a site of
land nearby and built a
completely new and modern
factory and when this was
completed transferred all the
machines there, while production
was kept going.
At the same time they moved the
machines from Købmændenes
Tændstikfabrik to the new
factory .
Several workers were hired and
production increased in the
first year alone from 150,000
boxes a day to 350,000 boxes .
The next year however,
production decreased to approx.
260,000 boxes because of moving
machines while running and many
operational changes .
At the same time they had spent
a lot of resources to improve
the quality so that it
corresponded to the Danish
quality.
But there were still problems
with the operation , and it was
hard to get good female labor
and partially the danes were
surprised by the Belgian
lethargy and indifference from
both the workers as from
management.
Preisler took a drastically step
and placed the dane, C. Bech as
factory manager and his
son-in-law , J.J.
Justman-Jacob as a mercenary
leader.
Although the two quickly got
the decline turned around, they
were, however fustrated as the
drowsiness and indifference took
over as soon as the Danes were
gone.
Production increased again to
approx.
300,000 boxes daily with now
approx.
450
workers. What
Bech and Justman-Jacob had
achieved was quite obvious as 11
competitors in Belgium closed
their doors during the same
period .
During 1911 and early 1912
a large financially strong
Belgian syndicate worked on
buying the Belgian matchstick
factories and form a syndicate
that would control more than 90%
of Belgian production .
They managed to get agreement
with 10 of the larger factories
, including KEK .
The syndicate was called " Union
Allumettiére " .
Out of the total share capital
of 6.25 million francs KEK
owned the 430,000 francs and
bonds for 100,000 francs.
When WW II broke out, the
development of the Union
Allumettiére brand stopped and
the Belgian president could
announced in March 1915 that
although the factories had not
suffered physical harm, the
plant had to shut down for 5
months in 1914 and although it
had come a little prodduction
again
, it was now almost impossible
to obtain raw materials.
In 1920, H. E.
Gosch & Co. choosed
to sell their shares in the
company , thereby getting
approx.
DKK
350,000
According to the accounts and
annual reports Gosch had a
surplus of approx.
100,000 kroner on the Belgian
adventure, but they forgot to
include previous years'
depreciation.
The signatures in the contract with Cobaert & Prové
