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PKF Francis Clark has reported a 35% year-on-year increase in deal completions for its growing corporate finance team in 2024.
The team advised on 113 projects during 2024, including company sales, acquisitions, debt and equity fundraising, management buyouts, employee ownership trusts and more than 60 due diligence assignments.
These included 46 deals with a value above the £500,000 threshold for inclusion on Experian Market IQ’s database.
This comes against the backdrop of a 2% rise in deal volumes in the south and south west region, compared to an 11% increase nationally.
Additionally, PKF Francis Clark’s annual deals review publication features a survey of professional advisers and funders on the outlook for deals in 2025.
According to the survey, respondents were positive about expected levels of transactional activity in 2025, with 48% predicting an increase and only 16% a decrease.
UK economic confidence was seen as the biggest factor affecting deal activity.
However, 51% of respondents think valuations will fall this year, while just 9% expect them to increase.
Andrew Killick, head of corporate finance at PKF Francis Clark, said: “Our team excelled themselves last year by achieving some superb results for our clients, often by finding relatively unknown synergistic purchasers from around the UK or internationally who were able to pay premium prices due to the unique value we demonstrated the opportunity could deliver for them.
“We also assisted significantly more private equity funds and institutions on the buyside, helping with pre-completion due diligence and suggesting solutions where issues arose, to avoid these matters becoming dealbreakers.”
Killick added: “Many entrepreneurs and business owners have yet to fully recognise the potentially huge impact of the changes the Budget delivered. Significant effort will be required to maintain, let alone increase, the net after-tax value for them and their descendants.
“While the individual issues may be different, 2025 is likely to hold just as many significant developments and surprises as last year. The key is to plan, expect change, keep flexible and adaptable, and be where the money is going.”
