Lion Industries was founded in Brussels in 1977 by Mike Carter who was the Director of Sales and Marketing of Binks International, a major supplier of paint spray equipment at that time. Mike had realised the potential of the new Titan adjustable airless spray tip and Lion Industries was formed to market it and was appointed sole importer and distributor for Europe, the Middle East and Africa for Titan Tool, with the Directors of Titan Tool having a minority shareholding in the new company. Lion Industries gets its name from the Lion of Waterloo which stands on top of the huge mound on the battlefield just South of Brussels, close to the first office of the company.

Over the years, the Titan range of products grew from just the adjustable spray tip to a full range of well engineered airless accessories, but no airless pumps. Lion Industries grew with Titan and a network of distributors was established throughout the territory. As we did not have an airless pump, our sales focus was on the application tools, such as a better spray gun or a power roller. This emphasis on the tool that applies the paint left a permanent mark on the culture of our company to focus on the importance of application tools and the techniques of using them.

During the 1980s the main sales office of Lion Industries SA was based in Brussels, but Mike Carter returned to the UK in 1980 and ran an office from Hastings covering the UK and Scandinavia. He retired in 1985 and a new branch office was set up in Biggin Hill that year to continue trading in the UK under the direction of Ted Nunn who had worked for Kremlin, a French spray equipment manufacturer. Lion Industries GmbH was founded in 1986 in Aachen in Germany, close to the Belgian border. In 1988 Ted Nunn retired and the UK office was moved to Lichfield, the present location.

Inevitably the genius of John Geberth Junior, the then owner of Titan, was directed towards the development of a completely new airless pump. The Epic 440e, the first Titan pump, was launched in 1986 and took the US market by storm, filling a long standing need for a compact, powerful and lightweight unit for house painters.

Lion Industries launched the Epic 440e in Europe in 1988, starting in the UK, that began the long process of establishing the Titan name as a fully fledged spray equipment supplier. In the meantime our German operation was being built up and we moved into new premises in 1990 with full warehousing and servicing facilities, located in Alsdorf close to Aachen. The Titan range of pumps had expanded by now and included petrol engined models, but the appeal of the little Epic 440e was the main route to increased market share. In the spring of 1990, we launched the Titan range in Europe with a major campaign of advertising and promotion in Germany where we secured a 15% market share of that market over the following 18 months.

Following a major market reorganisation by Titan and the start of the single European market, Lion Industries closed their German operation in 1992 and brought all their European sales management to their UK company that was based in Lichfield. Lion Industries UK Ltd has supplied their export customers as well as the home market ever since.

Although Lion Industries has served the UK market since the company was established in 1977, the first UK office and warehouse was started in Hastings by Mike Carter in 1980 when he moved back to the UK from Brussels. When Mike retired in 1985, the branch office was moved to Biggin Hill and managed by Ted Nunn (ex Kremlin) and his wife Grace. At this time the company was a branch office of the Belgian parent.

In 1988, Ted Nunn retired and Lion Industries UK moved to its present location in the City of Lichfield, just north of Birmingham, an ideal location to serve the whole of the UK, with good communications and well served by transport companies. When our European business was concentrated in Lichfield in 1992, the single European market had just become a reality, so we were able to continue to serve our European customers without interruption. Lion Industries UK was still a branch office, so in 1993 it was incorporated as a British limited company.