‘Buns and guns’ outfit Tomkins set sights on change

Founded in 1925 as FH Tomkins Buckle Company, a small British manufacturer of buckles and fasteners, the firm expanded rapidly in the Eighties and Nineties under Greg Hutchings.

The City buccaneer bought a 23% stake in Tomkins in 1983. He took charge a year later, aged 38, and embarked on an acquisitions spree that turned the British minnow into a global conglomerate with a vast portfolio of assets that had little or nothing in common with one another.

Major deals included the takeover of gunmaker Smith & Wesson in 1987, Hovis breadmaker RHM in 1992 and US-based Gates Corporation in 1996.

Because of these deals, Tomkins became known as the £5 billion "buns-to-guns" company.

It did not last, however. Hutchings had to resign in 2000 after a row over perks, including his use of corporate jets. He was booted out, though later cleared of any impropriety.

RHM was soon offloaded for £1.1 billion and the sale of Smith & Wesson followed as Tomkins focused on its core businesses.

After years of cost-cutting and streamlining, the former FTSE 100 firm now has annual revenues of £3 billion and a global workforce of more than 30,000 including 1500 in the UK.

It was hit hard by the recession, its significant US operations bearing most of the pain.