Beretta takes over Holland & Holland
Charlotte Peters
Charlotte Peters February 5, 2021
https://www.shootinguk.co.uk/news/beretta-takes-over-holland-holland-118880
On 1 February Beretta Holding acquired the Holland & Holland brand
Beretta Holdings has now significantly expanded its presence in the UK after signing an agreement to buy 100% of the prestigious Holland & Holland brand. The takeover took place on 1 February 2021.
Beretta says that it has been seeking to acquire a premium luxury brand for a while now and Holland & Holland fits the bill perfectly. The British gun-making company makes some of the world’s finest handmade shotguns and rifles for an international clientele.
Karl Waktare, managing director of Beretta UK importer GMK comments: ‘This is a really exciting development for Holland and Holland and the whole Beretta Group. Together I am sure we can build a great future.”
Holland & Holland was established in 1835 and holds two Royal Warrants, for HRH The Duke of Edinburgh and HRH The Prince of Wales. Beretta’s history goes back even further. The company was founded in the 16th century, making it the oldest active manufacturer of firearm components in the world.
Beretta is keen to stress that it wishes to maintain the valuable heritage of Holland & Holland, with its attention to skilled craftmanship.
Pietro Gussalli Beretta, President and CEO of Beretta Holding commented: “This is a truly exciting development and a great achievement for the Beretta family, further increasing the Group’s international footprint. Faced with the Brexit challenges, I am very pleased to increase our direct presence in the important UK market, where we are already active with our well-established distribution subsidiary.”
Holland & Holland also owns valuable shooting grounds in Northwood, north west of London which are popular with novice shooters, shooters wishing to hone their technique and those wishing to host a day’s shooting. A few years ago the company opened an indoor rifle cinema. The grounds employ some highly respected shooting instructors and also have conference facilities.
ADVENTURE, INTERNATIONAL Apr 9, 2021
HOLLAND & HOLLAND CHANGES HANDS — AGAIN
https://safariclub.org/holland-holland-changes-hands-again/
Holland & Holland has been acquired by Beretta. Word first came out of London in mid-December and the sale became official on Feb. 1, ending a three-decade attempt by the French fashion giant, Chanel, to turn the venerable old English company into “the Ralph Lauren of the shooting world.”
Details on the actual transaction are scant, to say nothing of Beretta’s plans for the London icon. However, information that has dribbled out of Bruton Street over the last 10 or 15 years suggest that H&H is in for some drastic changes.
The cost of maintaining the Bruton Street store itself, in the heart of Mayfair — one of the world’s most expensive venues — is bad enough. The company’s factory on Harrow Road, now almost 120 years old, also faces changes beyond its control stemming from London’s problems of excessive traffic. Finally, there is the shooting ground at Northwood, a large piece of real estate of astronomical value on the one hand, but presenting the difficulties of getting rid of almost a century’s worth of lead buildup.
As for the commercial value of Holland & Holland’s most prized products — shotguns and double rifles — the outlook is grim. After 30 years of being highly fashionable, side-by-sides of all descriptions are in the doldrums. One generation of collectors and enthusiasts has faded away (reducing demand) and their collections have cascaded onto the market (flooding supply).
The fabulous H&H guns ordered by prominent collectors like Robert M. Lee, the subject of many a drooling magazine article in the 1990s, have trouble finding a buyer willing to pay even a fraction of what they would now cost new. At Rock Island last year, a set of five double rifles from Lee’s collection failed even to meet the reserve, which itself was less than five new basic double rifles would cost today — and these five sported the finest walnut and most elaborate engraving to be had in the bygone excesses of the ‘90s.
On the face of it, no one in his right mind would consider buying H&H if future profit was a real consideration. But then, the same thing was said in the 1980s, before the double-gun boom really took off. The company had been on the market, off and on, for years, before Chanel stepped in and bought it. Several other potential buyers looked at it, including Asprey’s, the New Bond Street jewellers. When they were outbid (or reconsidered) they began building guns with their own name, using highly skilled London outworkers, but that lasted only a few years. A cobbler, they say, should stick to his last, and Asprey’s decided that gold and diamonds were their forte, not steel and gunpowder. Wisely, as it turned out.
Chanel, from the beginning, was less interested in Holland guns than they were in the Holland name. The Ralph Lauren reference above was a real statement from a Chanel executive. High fashion being their thing, they felt they could parlay the Holland name into a retailer of very expensive jackets, ties, cuff links and the like. To this end, they opened retail shops in such far-flung locales as New York, Moscow and Beverley Hills, with more to come. These closed almost as quickly as they opened, at considerable expense, as Chanel learned to its sorrow that the Holland name means almost nothing to anyone outside the shooting world, and an ill-fitting jacket is an ill-fitting jacket, regardless of the label.
On the positive side, Chanel poured money into modernising the production facilities on Harrow Road, including an investment in computers and CNC machinery to the tune of millions of pounds. Although the new deep-pocketed owner was willing to spend money, the Chanel bean counters were never as enthusiastic as the estate-owning, game-shooting Wertheimer brothers, who owned it. And never once, in the years that followed, did ownership of H&H bring a gleam to a bean counter’s eye.
In 2004, rumors began to circulate that the company was up for sale once again, and — I am ultra-reliably informed — a sale to Beretta reached the stage of signing the contracts. It fell through when the Wertheimer assigned to put his name on the paper set the pen down, said “I can’t do it,” got up, and walked out.
Now, the deal has been done. No company in the world knows more about guns, and corporate survival in a changing environment, than Beretta. After all, they’ve been around since 1526. Whatever the future holds for H&H under their stewardship, it has to be an improvement. One thing is (almost) for sure: They will concentrate on H&H guns and rifles, and leave the cuff links to others.
What next for Holland & Holland?
With Beretta's takeover, how will the London firm re-build?
FEBRUARY 2021
https://www.vintageguns.co.uk/magazine/what-next-for-holland-and-holland-
The worst kept secret in the gun trade is out!
Iconic British gunmaker, Holland & Holland, long owned by Chanel, is in new hands. The entire company, including the shop in Bruton Street, the shooting ground at Ducks Hill and the factory is now part of Beretta Holdings.
The company started in 1835 as H.Holland, under founder Harris Holland, who joined forces with his nephew Henry Holland in 1876 to form Holland & Holland: the firm as we know it today.
The company was styled H. Holland before Henry was made a partner in 1876.The company was styled H. Holland before Henry was made a partner in 1876.
By 1880 Holland & Holland was among the best regarded gun makers in London, though they did not have their own factory until 1893, relying on gunmakers to the trade, like W&C Scott, to provide their wares until then. A decade earlier, Holland & Holland rifles won all the prizes at the 1883 ‘Field Trials’.
The company is best known for its ‘Royal’ model side-lock, which has long been both respected and copied by many other gunmakers. It is the perfect balance of simplicity, reliability and beauty packaged into game gun form.
Perhaps the most versatile rifle calibre now in use is the 1912 Holland & Holland .375 Magnum, belted, centre-fire cartridge, equally appropriate for taking red deer or elephant.
Holland & Holland built a reputation on great products and gained an enviable customer base.Holland & Holland built a reputation on great products and gained an enviable customer base.
The company was long revered for its quality double rifles in big game calibres, which have served in the hands of film stars, famous hunters and at least one American president. Always innovators, the firm also pioneered the rifled-choke shotgun, known as the ‘Paradox’, which was also widely copied.
In the modern era, new models have been added to the range, including a more modestly priced side-by-side and two over & under models: the ‘Royal’ and the ‘Sporting’.
Chanel owned the company from 1989 until this week. During the Chanel era, despite huge financial investment, Holland & Holland, in the opinion of many in the Gun Trade, struggled with its identity. Was it a best gunmaker with a clothing line or a fashion brand with gun-making as its back-story?
The clothing collections veered from top quality country attire, to safari-themed high fashion, from season to season, and struggled to solidify a niche; seemingly too impractical and expensive for real sportsmen and competing in the high-fashion stakes with every other international brand on offer the length of nearby Bond Street.
A bespoke London gunmaker sells more than guns. At least fifty percent of the purchase price is accounted for by the pleasure of ordering and being involved in the process of building a unique product, exactly to the tastes and measurements of the buyer.
It has been said that recent production has, due to slack orders, been dominated by rifles and guns built for stock. This is not the business of a best gun-maker. Off-the shelf guns cannot command the prices or elicit the excitement due to a bespoke build. The current state of orders is indicative of the problems facing a great company that has somewhat lost its way.
Has Holland & Holland become a fashion brand rather than maitaining focus on its gun-making heritage?Has Holland & Holland become a fashion brand rather than maitaining focus on its gun-making heritage?
Rumours of a sale have been long-standing and Beretta’s interest was well-known. Several times during the past year, false confirmation has been whispered, with a sale due to be announced ‘imminently’.
Well, now it is official. So, what next for Holland & Holland? The internet forums have been awash with spurious assertions by every man and his dog that we shall soon see Beretta Silver Pigeons badged as Holland & Hollands, that guns will be made in Turkey, that everything will go over to machine manufacture. All of that can be confidently ignored as so much guff.
Beretta is a hugely successful gunmaker with a pedigree in the business which is second to none. Why have they bought Holland & Holland? Certainly not to engage in shoddy badge-engineering. They have bought a premium British brand so they can compete at the top of the market, where quality and brand value are symbiotic.
A Beretta SO10 is a Volkswagen Phaeton. The Phaeton was clever, beautifully built and very expensive. But it wasn’t a Bentley, so nobody bought one. To get a foothold in the luxury car market, the Volkswagen Audi Group (VAG) bought Bentley. They lent Bentley their production knowledge, financial muscle, ability to plan long-term and invest where necessary. Bentley got a new lease of life, the Crewe factory went into full production and now VW has a brand people will pay £150,000 to drive.
they left the ‘Gun Guys’ to do what they do best.
I see this in the future at Holland & Holland. We only need to look at Rigby to see a successful model. L&O bought Rigby, installed a fresh, young, ambitious team of gun people, not accountants or marketing managers. They gave the new team sufficient freedom to take risks and steer the company according to their vision. L&O provided the factory back-up, the ability to finance new projects, the financial muscle to buy what was needed in quantity. They also provided a sound accounting structure and accountability. Then, they left the ‘Gun Guys’ to do what they do best.
Rigby is a lean operation. It has only grown staff numbers as it has grown in output and profitability. The size of the premises has likewise grown incrementally. Today, Rigby out-sells everybody in London.
Westley Richards is similarly lean and mean, with all the fat cut away, leaving only a physically beautiful and efficient, well-muscled physique of a company, which everyone can appreciate.
If you want Westley Richards to build you a gun, you don’t wrestle with indifferent salesmen, you talk to Trigger, the M.D, and he’ll tune-in to what you aspire to own and he’ll tell you if he can do it, how he can do it, when he can do it and advise you how to do it best.
You are involved from the first minute and the excitement of instigating a new-build at Westley Richards is maintained throughout the process. No wonder their order books run nearly five years ahead of production.
The key to the success of both these businesses is that they are run by gunmakers for gun aficionados and the company understands the client. It isn’t rocket science, it is based on good products, good customer relationships and building value into the brand; not with clever brand enhancement campaigns but by hard work and personal relationship forging. In the old days, you could ask a chap, “Who is your gunmaker?” Because every shooting man had a one-to-one relationship with the man behind the counter.
Holland & Holland needs to remember that it is, first and foremost, a gunmaker. Is it time to downsize the showroom, focus on the product, the customer service and make the client feel part of the process? I think it is. Key to that will be the man they install behind the counter and what they let him do.