The main focus of the company at first was trading with the Niger River area and other west African ports, bringing west-African palm oil back to Britain.
The monthly mail steamer to the then Gold Coast (now Ghana), appointed by Royal Charter, came with a subsidy of 30,000 pounds sterling per year from the British government, starting from 1852.
The company also diversified into a number of businesses related to the trade, including a bank, oil-mills for processing the palm oil, a hotel in Grand Canary for tourists, and a fruit brokerage in London to deal with the banana trade.
Trade with the West Indies began in 1901, with a direct, fortnightly service from Avonmouth to Jamaica, subsidised by the Colonial Office.
As part of Elder Dempster, the company was bought by Sir Owen Philipp's Royal Mail Group in 1909.