The company was established by Nigel Rudd and Brian McGowan in Derby in 1982 to acquire under performing businesses.

[3] 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 Akzo Nobel in 1990.

[6] It changed its name to Williams plc in 1998 and sold Yale Lock Company to Assa Abloy in March 2000.