Business acquisition opportunity
Fire safety, compliance and building fabric contractor, England
Anonymised as Project Marlowe
Anonymised mandate, codename PROJECT MARLOWE
Fire safety, compliance and building fabric contractor, England
Fire safety, compliance and building fabric works across England
Why this business is called Project Marlowe
Project Marlowe is a working codename, chosen at random by DealFlowAgent (DFA) and standard practice in mergers and acquisitions. It exists so the business can be discussed with acquirers, funders and advisers without naming the company or alerting its staff, customers and competitors. The codename is not connected to the company, its brand or its trading name, and searching for it online will return nothing about this business. Everything you need in order to judge fit is on this page in banded form. The company is named to one verified acquirer only, after the owner approves that specific introduction in writing.
A director-led contractor delivering fire door inspection and remediation, fire stopping, passive and active fire protection and the associated building fabric and electrical work, largely for public sector and regulated building owners across England. Directly employed operatives. Framework and term positions in place. Not on the market, and not represented by anyone else.
Verified acquirers only. A short non-disclosure agreement releases the financial pack, the reserve figure and the contract base analysis. Identity is disclosed at the third gate, with the owner's written approval.
Indicative value range
£14M to £24M
Derived from comparable UK transactions in this sector over the last 24 months. This is a market reference, not the owner's number. The reserve is set separately and disclosed under non-disclosure agreement.
- Sector
- Fire safety, compliance and building fabric
- Region
- England
- Ownership
- Director-led
- External investors
- None
- Structure sought
- 60% to 100%
- Adviser status
- Unrepresented
£11-19M
Revenue
9-17%
Adjusted margin
50-65%
Programmed revenue
Concentrated, framework-led
Client base
5-10 yrs
Client tenure
45-90
Employees
Majority
Public sector share
Over a decade
Trading history
Why every figure is a band
Companies on this register are real businesses with staff, customers and suppliers who do not know their owner is listening to the market. Exact figures are a fingerprint: a precise turnover, a filing date and a region will narrow most UK sectors to a single company. These bands are wide enough to protect identity and wide enough that a growing business does not fall out of its own mandate. Every band is verified against filed accounts and management information held by DealFlowAgent (DFA). Precise figures are released under a non-disclosure agreement.
01 Opportunity at a glance
What the business actually does
The business surveys, remediates and maintains fire protection across occupied buildings, then carries out the fabric, electrical and mechanical work the survey findings generate. Work is instructed under frameworks and term arrangements by building owners with a statutory duty to hold current evidence, so volumes follow the compliance cycle rather than discretionary capital budgets.
Between 50% and 65% of revenue sits under programmed compliance, inspection and remediation instructions issued under frameworks and multi-year term arrangements, with reactive and fabric works won from the same estates.
- Revenue mix
- 50-65% programmed compliance and remediation
- End customers
- Businesses and public bodies only
- Public sector share of revenue
- Majority
- Client concentration
- Concentrated, framework-backed
- Average client tenure
- Five to ten years
- Delivery workforce
- Predominantly directly employed
- Accreditations
- Third-party accredited across core fire disciplines
- Outstanding litigation or HSE action
- None disclosed
02 Why now
Sector timing
Building safety legislation has turned fire door inspection, fire stopping and evidenced remediation from an occasional expense into a standing statutory obligation with named accountable persons behind it. Public sector landlords and regulated building owners are letting multi-year programmes rather than one-off jobs. Acquirers are paying for accredited delivery capacity because the labour to service those programmes cannot be recruited quickly.
Nothing distressed. The directors are forecasting a further step up and have set a reserve so that only acquirers prepared to meet it are ever put in front of them.
What has changed for this owner
Nothing distressed. Direct approaches have increased as the sector has consolidated and the directors have answered none of them. The decision was to stop fielding them privately, appoint DealFlowAgent (DFA) as the filter, and see qualified interest at a figure set in advance.
03 Financial profile
Three years, published as bands
Two years apart, published as bands and verified against filed accounts and management information. Growth is organic and the directors are forecasting a further step up on the current programmed order book, which we present separately from historic performance and test the way an acquirer will.
| Measure | Three years ago | Most recent full year |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue | £9-16M | £11-19M |
| Programmed share of revenue | 45-60% | 50-65% |
| Adjusted margin | 8-15% | 9-17% |
| Owner remuneration adjustment | Identified and quantified | |
| Forecast position | Directors forecasting further growth, disclosed under NDA | |
| Net debt | Disclosed under NDA | |
Where the earnings quality sits
- Growth is organic and driven by programme volume rather than by pricing.
- Delivery capacity is predominantly directly employed rather than subcontracted.
- Revenue is instructed under frameworks and term arrangements, not open tender.
- The forward position rests on a named order book, which is tested before any figure is relied on.
04 The owner's position
Stated in advance, in writing
| Question | Stated position |
|---|---|
| Is the business for sale? | No |
| Would they transact at the right figure? | Yes, confirmed in writing |
| Reserve figure | Set, disclosed under NDA |
| Preferred structure | 60% to 100% of equity |
| Rollover appetite | Open to a meaningful rollover |
| Post-completion involvement | 12 to 24 months, negotiable |
| Management team | Expected to remain |
| Represented elsewhere? | No adviser, no other process |
What a reserve figure is
A reserve, as at auction. Before a mandate goes live, the owner completes a full valuation exercise with DealFlowAgent (DFA) and commits, in writing, to the figure at which they will engage seriously. It is private and it is never published. Nothing below it is ever put in front of them, so no acquirer is invited into a conversation that was never going to happen, and the owner is never asked to decline a low offer.
The reserve is disclosed to verified acquirers at non-disclosure agreement stage. It is a threshold for engagement. It is not an asking price and it is not a cap.
We are not selling. The order book is the strongest it has been and we intend to keep building it. If a buyer arrived at the right figure, with the right intentions for the people, we would take that seriously.
05 Transaction process
The four gates
01
Acquirer verification.
Funding position, sector experience, prior completions and decision-making authority are confirmed by DealFlowAgent (DFA) before any company information is released. Unfunded parties and brokers acting without a named principal do not proceed.
No company information released
02
Non-disclosure agreement and financial pack.
A short non-disclosure agreement releases the financial pack, the reserve figure, the contract base analysis and the management structure. The company is still not named.
Identity withheld
03
Owner approval and introduction.
We put the acquirer to the owner with a written profile covering their intent, their integration approach and their treatment of teams in previous acquisitions. The owner decides. Only on their written approval is the company named and a meeting arranged.
Owner's written approval required
04
Indicative offer.
Acquirers who meet the reserve are invited to submit an indicative offer. Where more than one qualifies, we run a structured process from that point.
Reserve must be met
06 Which acquirers this suits
A strong fit, and not a fit
A strong fit
- Compliance, testing and inspection platforms adding passive fire protection
- National building services and facilities management groups seeking regulated public sector estates
- Private equity platforms building a fire and life safety group
- International acquirers entering the UK requiring accreditation and directly employed capacity on day one
Not a fit
- Parties without committed funding at the indicative range
- Buyers requiring the directors to exit at completion
- Structures weighted heavily to deferred consideration
- Acquirers intending to move delivery to subcontract
07 About the Off-Market Register
What this register is
How the register works, and where to start
The Off-Market Register carries companies that are not for sale, at prices their owners have already set. Each owner has completed a full valuation exercise with DealFlowAgent (DFA) and committed in writing to the figure at which they will engage.
Every acquirer is verified before they see anything, every document released is watermarked to the recipient, and every access is logged. Before a mandate goes live it is tested three ways for de-anonymisation, and all three tests must fail to identify the company.
If you own a business in this sector, start with the free valuation, read the sector valuation guides or speak to us confidentially. If you acquire businesses, request acquirer access.
08 Questions
Answered in full
If the owner is not selling, is this a waste of my time?
The owner has committed a reserve figure in writing and has agreed in advance to meet acquirers who clear it. You are seeing a business before any process exists, without a competitive auction and without six other parties at the table. What you are not getting is a motivated seller, and you should price accordingly.
Why are the figures banded?
Because precise figures identify the company. A turnover to the pound, a filing date and a region will narrow most UK sectors to one business. Exact figures are released at non-disclosure agreement stage.
Will I be told the reserve before I commit time?
Yes. The reserve is disclosed at non-disclosure agreement stage, before any meeting and before any diligence.
Can I approach the company directly if I work out who it is?
Acquirers who circumvent the register are removed permanently and the owner is informed.
Who pays DealFlowAgent (DFA)?
The owner, on completion only. There is no charge to acquirers at any stage, and no fee is payable by anyone if a transaction does not complete.
Own a business like this one?
Every mandate on this register began with a ninety-second valuation and a conversation. No retainer, no exclusivity, and your company is never named until you approve a specific introduction in writing.
Request access to Project Marlowe
Verification takes under a working day. On approval you receive the financial pack, the reserve figure and the contract base analysis under a non-disclosure agreement. The company is named only with the owner's written approval.
DealFlowAgent (DFA)
Fire safety, compliance and building fabric works across England
Project Marlowe is a confidential mandate on the DealFlowAgent (DFA) Off-Market Register. All figures are banded and verified against filed accounts and management information. Nothing on this page constitutes an offer or an invitation to treat. DealFlowAgent is a trading name of BTB Holdings Ltd, registered in England and Wales.
