Williams Holdings was a major

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

conglomerate. It was listed on the

London Stock Exchange London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St P ...

, and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.

History

The company was established by Nigel Rudd and Brian McGowan in

Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby g ...

in 1982 to acquire under performing businesses.Nigel Rudd, My best deal
Management Today, 1 April 1991 Its first major acquisition was ''J & HB Jackson'', a

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a city in the West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its city status until the Middle Ages. The city is governed b ...

based metal business, in 1985. The company went to acquire '' Crown Berger'', a paints business, in 1987, ''Pilgrim House'' in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

(owners of

Kidde Kidde () is a brand and division of Carrier Global that manufactures and distributes fire detection and suppression equipment, as well as smoke and CO alarm units. Kidde is one of America's largest manufacturer of smoke alarms and fire safety p ...

) for £331m in 1988 and ''

Yale & Valor Yale & Valor was a company in Birmingham that manufactured locks and gas fires. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange. History In 1890, the Valor Company Ltd. was formed in Birmingham for manufacturing oil storage cabinets.

'', a locks and gas fires business, in 1991. In 1988, Williams Holdings acquired Berger, Jenson and Nicholson Ltd from

Hoechst AG Hoechst AG () was a German chemicals then life-sciences company that became Aventis Deutschland after its merger with France's Rhône-Poulenc S.A. in 1999. With the new company's 2004 merger with Sanofi-Synthélabo, it became a subsidiary of the ...

. It started to focus on security in the 1990s, selling its paints business to

Akzo Nobel Akzo Nobel N.V., stylized as AkzoNobel, is a Dutch multinational company which creates paints and performance coatings for both industry and consumers worldwide. Headquartered in Amsterdam, the company has activities in more than 80 countries ...

in 1990. In February 1997, it bought

Chubb Security Chubb Fire & Security Ltd is a British firm specialised in fire protection and security systems, and is a subsidiary of APi Group Corporation (NYSE: APG). History The company was founded by Charles and Jeremiah Chubb, who patented their Chu ...

for $US2.1 billion. It changed its name to ''Williams plc'' in 1998 and sold

Yale Lock Company Yale is one of the world's oldest lock manufacturers, owned by its parent company, Assa Abloy. Over its extensive history, Yale has received patents for dozens of its products, and the company has distributed its products to more than 120 coun ...

Assa Abloy Assa Abloy AB is a Swedish conglomerate whose offerings include products and services related to locks, doors, gates, and entrance automation. Related products and services include controlling access and confirming identities with keys, cards, ...

in March 2000.

Demerging

The company demerged into Chubb and

in July 2000.Williams plunges 14% as margins shrink
Independent, 19 July 2000

References

External links

* Conglomerate companies established in 1982 Companies formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange Companies based in Derbyshire Conglomerate companies of the United Kingdom 1982 establishments in the United Kingdom {{UK-company-stub