Selling a consulting firm in the UK

You own a UK consulting firm worth between £5M and £50M in enterprise value. A specialist strategy or management consulting practice. A technology consulting firm with deep methodology. A specialist sector consulting business (financial services, healthcare, public sector, energy). A specialist functional consulting firm (digital, transformation, operations, change). Most likely a mix of project revenue and retainer / programmatic revenue with a recognised client book.

The buyer pool sits across larger strategic consulting groups acquiring for capability or sector depth, PE consolidators in defined consulting niches, technology services groups acquiring tech-adjacent consulting capability, and overseas firms expanding UK footprint. Specialist niches (financial regulation, specialist technology, deep sector expertise) attract premium pricing and a wider buyer pool than generalist consulting at the same revenue.

We engage 12 to 24 months before a target exit. The longer window matters because the highest-return preparation work in consulting — surfacing retainer / recurring revenue cleanly, addressing top-consultant retention, documenting IP and methodology, and demonstrating sustainable margin through the cycle — takes time.

This is not the right fit if your firm is below £5M EV, or if more than 40% of revenue depends on one or two senior consultants without engaged lock-in arrangements. In the latter case the readiness phase is the place to start.

Buyer diligence in UK consulting M&A focuses on five items.

Retainer vs project revenue mix first. Retainer and programmatic revenue is valued at a meaningful premium to project revenue because of visibility and stickiness. Buyers will diligence the recurring book by client, by length, and by retention. Surfacing this cleanly in the IM is high-return work — most consulting firms understate the recurring portion because the categorisation has never been done sharply.

IP and methodology second. Defensible methodology, proprietary frameworks, registered IP, published thought leadership. These are barriers to entry that support premium pricing. We help owners document IP positions cleanly, especially where IP has been created jointly with clients or by external contractors.

Consultant retention and top-biller concentration third. The headline diligence concern. Buyers look at tenure, billing concentration, restrictive covenants and post-sale lock-in arrangements. Firms where 30%+ of revenue depends on one or two senior consultants who have not been engaged with the transaction story consistently re-trade at completion.

Client concentration and tenure fourth. Blue-chip client relationships with multi-year tenure and meaningful share-of-wallet command premium pricing. Concentration above 20% in a single client is a flag.

Partner alignment fifth. Where multiple partners hold equity, alignment on objectives, lock-ins, post-sale roles and proceeds split needs to be reached before going to market. Lack of alignment is the most common reason consulting sales stall.

Our six-stage process runs senior-led across the full mandate. For consulting firms, three things shape execution.

Partnership alignment is built into the readiness phase. Where multiple partners hold equity, alignment work happens before any buyer is approached.

Buyer mapping is segmented by specialist sub-sector. Strategy consulting consolidators, technology services groups, sector-specialist consulting consolidators, and overseas firms each operate to different criteria. Our buyer mapping segments by your specific specialism, supported by our proprietary technology layer.

Consultant engagement is structured into the process design from the start. Senior consultant talent is meaningfully part of what the buyer is paying for. See the professional services pillar for context and specialist accounting firms for an adjacent niche.