 It was a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index until its share price plunged following a failed rights issue in late 2018, after which it started a restructuring, cost-cutting and disposals programme.The company was founded by Jorgen Lotz and Olaf Kier, Danish engineers, under the name Lotz & Kier in 1928, and it was based in Stoke-on-Trent.A few years later Lotz withdrew from the company, but Olaf Kier retained a semblance of his identity by including Lotz's initials in the organisation's new name, J.L.