Recruitment agency valuations, independently prepared.

What the figure usually turns on

• Net fee income, not turnover

  A temp desk billing £8m at 12% margin is a different business from a perm desk billing £1m at 100%. Everything starts from NFI and gross profit, never from headline revenue.

• Perm, temp and contract mix

  Contract and temp books with running placements carry visibility and therefore a higher multiple. Pure perm income is cyclical and repeats only through the consultants who generate it.

• Consultant productivity and retention

  GP per head, desk maturity, billing consultants versus support, and how much of the book the owner personally bills. Owner-billed revenue is discounted heavily, because it leaves with the owner.

• Client and sector concentration

  PSL positions, framework places and contract terms matter more than the client list. Where the top client is a large share of GP, the multiple compresses regardless of margin.

• Funding, invoice finance and working capital

  Temp books consume cash. Invoice discounting facilities, debtor days and the payroll-to-collection gap set what a buyer must fund on day one and affect the deal structure directly.

The multiple follows who owns the billing

Recruitment is the clearest example of a sector where two agencies with identical profit are worth very different amounts. If the owner bills a third of the gross profit, an acquirer is buying a book that walks out with them.

We evidence GP by consultant, desk maturity and repeat client behaviour, then show precisely how each factor moved the multiple.

Earn-outs are where the value actually sits

Most recruitment deals are structured with substantial deferred consideration. A headline figure means little until the earn-out mechanism, measurement period and control provisions have been read.

We value the business independently so you can judge an offer's real worth, not just its front page.

This is for you if…

• —You're planning a sale or an MBO in the next one to three years.
• —You've had an approach and want the offer and earn-out tested.
• —A shareholder or founding consultant is leaving and the shares need pricing.
• —You need a valuation for an EMI scheme, a share transfer or HMRC.