During the 1980s the company acquired businesses in the Automotive Engineering sector (principally Rolls-Royce Motors), the Defence sector (principally Royal Ordnance Factory Leeds) and the Marine Engineering sector (principally Kamewa and Ulstein).
•
In 1986, it purchased Kamewa a Swedish manufacturer of waterjets, followed in 1998 by Ulstein (Norway), a major marine propulsion and engineering company.