History

Ontex was founded in Belgium in 1979 as a supplier of underpads for Belgium hospitals, clinics and care homes.
Since then we have built an international business through organic growth and a number of key acquisitions. Today, we have offices and manufacturing plants in Europe, North and East Africa, Australia, the Middle East and the Americas.Then, as now, it was all about quality products at affordable prices, being close to consumers in local markets and understanding consumers’ needs.
Ontex has evolved from a local manufacturer to a global supplier of affordable, quality personal hygiene products with a balanced portfolio of products that bring convenience, security and dignity to users.
Our history is one of continuous innovation in products and services, technological advances and strong partnerships.
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Timeline and evolution

1980s and 1990s

Expanded our product range into baby care, adult care and feminine care products acquiring distribution and production facilities across Europe, in the Czech Republic and Turkey.

2006

Opened our first factory outside Europe in China followed by a manufacturing plant in Algeria.

2011

Acquired one of Europe’s biggest disposable hygiene products suppliers, Lille Healthcare, and opened plants in Australia, Russia and Pakistan.

2013

Extended our range of adult care products with the acquisition of the Serenity brand in Italy.

2014

Listing on the Belgium Euronext stock exchange in June gave us a strong financial base to continue to develop new products, work with customers and seek new markets.

2016

Acquisition of Grupo P.I Mabe in Mexico extended the Ontex platform outside Western Europe and into growth markets in North America. We entered the benchmark stock market index of Euronext Brussels BEL 20.

2017

Acquisition of the personal hygiene business of Hypermarcas S.A. in Brazil marks another important step in our transformation from manufacturer to consumer-facing business. It gives us a good foothold in this exciting market.

Certifications and Awards

Quality is at the core of everything we do. From raw materials to finished products – including design, manufacturing, packaging and delivery – we take compliance and product safety very seriously, using a rigorous system of controls, audits and certification to be sure our standards remain the highest. All of our sites operate by the same Ontex Quality Policy, which is supported by ISO, BRC and IFS certifications.

Our functions, production units and sales offices are all ISO 9001 certified (pending in Karachi in Pakistan) and our Feminine Care products are ISO 13485 certified. All of our plants have BRC certifications in safety and design, while our Mayen plant in Germany is certified for IFS Household and Personal Care Products. Our systems are regularly audited by external certification bodies as well as customers. We thrive on these opportunities to continually improve our products and services.

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Engineer of the year
Annick De Poorter, our R&D, Quality and Sustainability Director, received the ‘Engineer of the Year’ Award in 2019

The award is given out by the Faculty of Engineering Sciences of Ghent University and its alumni association AIG (Alumni Engineers UGent) to highlight outstanding innovative work.