If there were an award for the UK's most diversified company ICI would probably win hands down.

While nominally a chemical company, this FTSE founding member has branched out to make everything from perfume to explosives and about 55,000 other products in between.

This week, on 7 December, it completes its 75th year as a blue chip staple on the London Stock Exchange.

It was born back in 1926, when four UK chemical companies - Brunner, Mond and Company, British Dyestuffs and the United Alkali Company - merged to take on bigger US and European rivals.

In 1928, its first full year of business, the company made a pre-tax profit of �4.5m. By 2000 that had grown to an impressive �450m.

Paints and perfumes

In years past its success was built on bulk industrial chemicals.

But times have changed. Now two business divisions - specialty products (things like fragrances, adhesives and food ingredients) and paints - account for about 70% of ICI's sales.

Unfortunately for its shareholders, ICI's recent share performance has been a sorry story.

Going down

From a May 1998 high of �12.44 the stock fell about 78% to a low of 284p on 21 September this year.

Compared to many dot.coms that may look respectable, but ICI was meant to be a bluer than blue chip defensive stock.

The shares have recently bounced back to about 400p, but that won't inspire too much confidence; rallies have been a regular but usually short-lived feature of ICI's shares since mid-1998.

Meet the boss

The man charged with returning ICI to stable growth is 52 year-old Lancastrian Brendan O'Neill.

Brendan joined ICI as chief operating officer in May 1998 and was promoted to chief executive in 1999.

He started his career in automotive manufacturing, originally with Ford and later with British Leyland at its Dagenham plant.

From 1983 to 1987 he was group financial controller at Midland Bank. He left that role to join Guinness where he was promoted from director to finance director to managing director and finally executive director of the newly renamed Diageo.

To hear the interview with Brendan click on the link in the top right hand corner of the story.