A gifted salesman, Montague founded Gatehill Beco in 1958 aged 26 on an investment of £100, selling electric wire and later making cheap electric boiling rings: "I used to make the goods, sell them, deliver them to the back door, and then go round to the front to collect the money." After he received a large order he could not fulfil himself, Montague sought out a large corporate, and eventually sold out to Valor in 1962, of which he then became a Director and then managing director.