The company was established by
Henry Jones in
Hobart in 1891 as
H. Jones & Company. The company derived from Jones' employment with
George Peacock's jam factory from 1874. In 1895 the company purchased a building in Melbourne and commenced manufacture of jams and spreads. The building became known as
The Jam Factory. IXL formed as a limited liability company in 1903. 'I excel in everything I do' was Henry Jones's personal motto, hence the name 'IXL'. After Jones' death in 1926, the leading figure in the company was Achalen Palfreyman, who served as chairman from 1926 to 1965. Palfreyman had begun working at George Peacock's jam factory as an office boy at the age of 14. Throughout most of the twentieth century
Henry Jones IXL thrived as a food processing company with IXL a leading brand. In 2004 the Henry Jones IXL business was the leading manufacturer of fruit spreads in Australia, with 30.2 per cent of the market, ahead of
Cadbury Schweppes' Monbulk and Cottee's labels. In 1974
Elder Smith Goldsbrough Mort & Co merged with Henry Jones IXL to form
Elders IXL under the managing directorship of prominent businessman,
John Elliott. Kyabram Jam Factory is majority owned by Malaysian Holstein Milk Company. March 2025 the IXL brand was returned to Australian hands and is now part of IXL Foods Pty. Currently, IXL jams are sold in independent supermarkets across Australia, including IGA, Drakes, Ritchies, and Foodland. In Malaysia IXL jams are available at Village Grocer, Aeon Supermarkets, Grocer Houz , and Bila Bila Mart. In Singapore, IXL jams are sold in NTUC Fair Price. In early 2026, IXL Foods launched The Real Jam Co. range in Woolworths stores, with 4 x 500g variants including Strawberry, Plum, Apricot and Orange Marmalade. The company will expand into Fruit Sauces and Dessert Sauces in 2026.
Brands IXL is an iconic
Australian brand name, associated with
jams and other fruit based products. A familiar feature of many Australian kitchens are the glass tumblers in which IXL brand jams are often sold. IXL was the flagship brand of Henry Michael Jones IXL, which was founded in
Hobart,
Tasmania in 1891 (as
H. Jones & Co.), and expanded to the mainland shortly thereafter, purchasing a building in Melbourne in 1895. The name IXL is said to derive from the founders personal motto (variously quoted as 'I excel in everything I do' or 'I will excel in everything I do') however a manufacturer of stoves and other household appliances and fixtures based in
Geelong, near
Melbourne had been using the brandname IXL for some 30 years before
H. Jones & Co. was established.
Timeline Source: • In 2005, Coca-Cola Amatil bought SPC Ardmona (IXL parent company). • In 2019, both the Kyabram factory and IXL brand were bought by Kyabram Jam Company • In 2025, the IXL brand was purchased by the Australian-owned Modcor Group, and is operated under its subsidiary IXL Foods Pty Ltd. ==See also==