March 2027 | Limited to 12–15 agencies

Grow your agency through acquisition

A practical two-day programme for agency founders, owners and CFOs. Learn how to identify, approach, value, fund and successfully acquire the right business.

Programme investment

£2,750 + VAT

Per agency for one attendee, including accommodation and dinner.

Registering your interest does not commit you to attending or require payment. You will receive priority access when places are released.

A better question than price

Could you buy a business for £1?

Potentially, yes.

Businesses are not always acquired through a large payment on completion. The seller's circumstances, future plans, company performance and the structure of the deal can all affect how much money a buyer needs upfront.

We once helped a business owner acquire an agency generating approximately £1 million in annual revenue with an initial investment of just £30,000.

On other occasions, businesses have effectively been acquired for little more than the finder's fee and professional costs involved in completing the transaction.

These opportunities exist, but buying cheaply does not automatically mean buying well.

The real questions are:

Is it the right business for your growth strategy?
Why does the owner want to sell?
What risks and liabilities will you inherit?
Is the reported profit real and sustainable?
How should the consideration be structured?
Can you retain the clients and key people?
How will you integrate it into your existing agency?
Will the acquisition genuinely create value?

This programme will help you answer those questions before you commit to a deal.

The growth case

Why grow through acquisition?

Building an agency organically can take years. The right acquisition can allow you to accelerate that journey by adding:

Revenue and profit

New clients and contracts

Specialist services and capabilities

Experienced people and leadership

Intellectual property and technology

Access to a new sector or geography

Greater scale and resilience

A stronger future valuation

However, acquisitions also introduce risk. Buying the wrong company, agreeing the wrong structure or failing to integrate it properly can destroy value very quickly.The objective is not simply to buy a business. It is to buy the right business, on the right terms, for the right strategic reasons.

The two-day programme

What you will learn

Work through the practical decisions involved in finding, assessing, funding and integrating an agency acquisition.

Building your acquisition strategy

Before approaching potential targets, you need to understand what you want to acquire and why.

The strategic purpose of an acquisition
The type and size of business you should target
The services, clients or capabilities you want to add
Your preferred geography
Your financial parameters
The risks you are prepared to accept
What a successful acquisition would look like

You will leave with a clear acquisition profile that can guide your search.

Finding acquisition opportunities

Some of the best acquisition opportunities are never openly advertised.

Build a credible target list
Research and prioritise potential acquisitions
Approach owners directly
Start confidential conversations
Understand the seller's motivations
Build trust without committing too early
Create opportunities before a formal sales process begins

Assessing the business

A company's headline revenue and profit rarely tell the whole story.

Quality and sustainability of revenue
Recurring versus project-based income
Client concentration
Contractual relationships
Profit adjustments
Owner and leadership dependency
Staff costs and organisational structure
Culture and employee retention
Cash flow, debt and working capital
Legal, tax and commercial liabilities
Warning signs that should make you reconsider or walk away

Understanding valuation

You will learn how agency businesses are valued and why two companies with the same profit can have very different values.

Revenue and EBITDA multiples
Adjusted and maintainable profit
Quality of earnings
Recurring revenue
Growth and market positioning
Client concentration and risk
Owner dependency
Strategic value to the buyer
How the structure of a deal affects its real value

Structuring and funding the deal

The headline valuation does not necessarily need to be paid on completion.

Upfront cash payments
Deferred consideration
Earn-outs
Vendor finance
Performance-related payments
Asset purchases
Share purchases
Debt and external funding
How deals can be structured to reduce upfront cash
How risk can be shared between the buyer and seller

You will also learn why an apparently inexpensive acquisition can become costly if the structure, liabilities and future commitments are not properly understood.

Negotiating with the owner

Agency acquisitions are personal. The seller may have spent decades building the business and will care about much more than the price.

Understanding what matters to the seller
Managing founder emotions and expectations
Positioning yourself as a credible buyer
Making an initial proposal
Negotiating price and structure
Agreeing heads of terms
Maintaining momentum
Knowing when to stop negotiating and walk away

Due diligence

Due diligence is not simply a legal exercise. It is how you test whether the business you think you are buying is the business that actually exists.

Financial performance
Revenue and client relationships
Commercial contracts
Employees and freelancers
Technology and intellectual property
Tax and legal liabilities
Operational processes
Data and compliance
Owner dependency
Future financial commitments

The programme will also show you where specialist legal, tax and financial advice is essential.

Integration and the first 100 days

Completion is the beginning of the acquisition, not the end.

Communication with clients and employees
Retaining key people
Leadership responsibilities
Culture and ways of working
Financial controls
Systems and processes
Brand and positioning
Cross-selling opportunities
Cost savings
Performance reporting
The first 30, 60 and 100 days

Who should attend?

This programme is specifically designed for agency leaders who want a clear, commercially focused acquisition process.

Agency founders and owners considering acquisition as a route to growth
CFOs and finance directors responsible for assessing or funding acquisitions
Founders and CFOs working together as an acquisition team
Agency leaders considering their first acquisition
Buyers who have already encountered opportunities but lack a clear process
Owners who want to run their own acquisition search
Agencies that want to become credible, acquisition-ready buyers

You do not need to have identified an acquisition target before attending.

This is a senior, commercially focused programme. It is not designed for junior team members or general business-development roles.

What you will leave with

By the end of the two days, you will have:

A clearly defined acquisition strategy
Your ideal acquisition target profile
A framework for finding and approaching owners
A method for assessing potential targets
A practical valuation framework
An understanding of acquisition funding and deal structures
A due-diligence checklist
A first-100-days integration plan
A clear action plan for beginning or progressing your search

You will work through real acquisition examples and apply the frameworks directly to your own agency.

Build internal capability

Why learn to do this yourself?

A fully supported acquisition search and transaction process can cost between £3,000 and £6,000 per month, often alongside a finder's fee or completion fee.

For founders without the time or internal resources to manage a search, this support can be invaluable.

However, some agency owners and CFOs have the time and capability to run much of the process themselves. They need the right strategy, frameworks, tools and confidence to do it properly.

This programme will give you a practical acquisition process and help you decide:

What you can confidently manage internally
Where you need specialist professional advice
When external acquisition support will add genuine value
How to avoid paying advisers for work you can sensibly undertake yourself

Two days cannot replace specialist legal, tax or financial advice. It can, however, make you a significantly more informed, prepared and commercially capable buyer.

Plan ahead

Programme details

The first programme is planned for March 2027 and will be limited to 12–15 agencies. Specific dates and the venue are still to be confirmed.

Timing

March 2027

Specific dates TBC

Duration: Two days and one night

Venue

TBC

Audience

Agency founders, owners and CFOs

Group size

Limited to 12–15 agencies

Investment

£2,750 + VAT per agency for one attendee

The investment includes:

The complete two-day programme
One night's accommodation
Dinner with the group
Lunch and refreshments on both days
Acquisition frameworks, tools and checklists
Programme materials
A follow-up implementation session

A second founder or CFO from the same agency may also be able to attend for an additional fee.

The programme is deliberately limited to a small number of agencies. This will allow us to understand each participant's ambitions and work through their real acquisition opportunities and challenges.

What happens next?

Stay ahead of the release

Once you have registered, we will send you the confirmed dates, venue, full agenda and booking information when they become available.

Because the group will be limited to 12–15 agencies, registering your interest will give you priority access but will not guarantee a place.

Want to explore whether acquisition could accelerate your agency's growth?