Acquisitions are so embedded in the working practices of Bunzl that it even advertises on its website for companies that might want to be taken over. The FTSE 100 group has agreed no fewer than 157 deals over the past 15 years and spends an average of more than £220 million a year buying businesses and bolting them on. This can make it feel complex, but it does mean that it is always on the move.
Bunzl was founded in 1854 as a haberdashery in Bratislava, relocating to London in 1938 to escape the political turmoil sweeping through central Europe in the run-up to the Second World War. It listed on the stock exchange in 1957, made its first acquisition as a listed company in