Williams Holdings was a major British conglomerate. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange, and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.
The company was established by Nigel Rudd and Brian McGowan in Derby in 1982 to acquire under performing businesses.[1] Its first major acquisition was J & HB Jackson, a Coventry based metal business, in 1985.[1]
The company went to acquire Walpamur, a paints business, from Reed International in 1987,[2] and
The vehicle division, which operated nineteen car dealerships, was demerged as Pendragon PLC in November 1989.[4]
Williams Holdings bought Pilgrim House in the United States (owners of Kidde) for £331m in 1988 and Yale & Valor, a locks and gas fires business, in 1991.[1]
It started to focus on security in the 1990s, selling its paints business to Nobels Industries in 1990.[5] In February 1997, it bought Chubb Security for $US2.1 billion.[6] It changed its name to Williams plc in 1998 and sold Yale Lock Company to Assa Abloy in March 2000.[7]
