Skerritt Electrical joins TSG Group

Strategic acquirers in the UK electrical contracting and technical services sector focus on a consistent set of value drivers: visibility and quality of the project pipeline, breadth of design-and-build capability rather than installation-only work, sector accreditations such as NICEIC and ECA, depth of long-term client relationships with developers and main contractors, and capability across both conventional electrical engineering and new-energy systems including EV charging, solar PV, and battery storage. For pan-European platform acquirers such as TSG Group, a UK design-and-build contractor with blue-chip project references creates immediate scale in a market where commercial and residential infrastructure is being electrified at pace. A founder-led business with a stable senior team and demonstrably repeatable project delivery typically commands a stronger valuation in a competitive UK mid-market M&A process.

Most strategic acquirers in the UK electrical contracting and new-energy services category apply a multiple of maintainable EBITDA as the primary valuation metric, adjusted for project visibility, client concentration, capability mix between conventional and new-energy work, and the depth of the senior team beneath the founder. In UK mid-market M&A — where sell-side deal values typically sit in the £5m–£100m range — businesses with diversified client bases, strong design-and-build margins, and a clean track record on major projects command premium multiples. A competitive sell-side M&A process, run by an experienced UK advisor with electrical and construction-sector fluency, is the most reliable way to establish a defensible valuation narrative and prevent a first offer from anchoring the negotiation.

The UK remains one of Europe's most active markets for construction-sector M&A, particularly in technical services adjacent to the energy transition. UK electrical and mechanical engineering businesses are attractive to pan-European groups for a combination of reasons: a regulated building environment that is electrifying faster than most EU equivalents, an accelerating EV charging infrastructure rollout, strong commercial-property pipelines across the major UK cities, and valuations that often compare favourably to equivalent Western European assets. For TSG, the acquisition of Skerritt Electrical extended its 30-country technical services platform into the UK construction sector — adding design-and-build capability that complements the group's existing focus on energy distribution infrastructure for sustainable mobility.

The outcome for staff and clients in an electrical contracting acquisition depends substantially on the acquirer's integration strategy and on the strength of the deal terms negotiated by the sell-side M&A advisor. Platform acquirers such as TSG typically retain operational management and site-delivery teams, because continuity of project delivery is central to preserving the client relationships they have acquired. In the Skerritts transaction, the business retained its identity within the TSG Group, with Steve Hulse and Steve Hall continuing to lead — protecting active project commitments and the client relationships built across nearly four decades. CapEQ works with founders to identify acquirers whose integration plans align with the legacy they want to protect, and to ensure cultural and operational fit are treated as primary deal objectives rather than afterthoughts.

Optimal exit timing for an electrical contracting founder is shaped by personal, business, and market factors in combination. On the personal side: clarity about what comes next, and whether the day-to-day still energises the founder as a leader. On the business side: a maintainable EBITDA trajectory, a visible project pipeline, and a senior team capable of supporting a transition without the founder on every site. On the market side: structural demand from the energy transition, active acquirer interest from UK and pan-European platforms, and sufficient deal flow to support a competitive sell-side process. Founders who wait until project margins compress or until they are exhausted by the business typically realise lower valuations. The strongest UK electrical contracting exits are planned — often two or three years in advance — with the right sell-side M&A advisor brought in early enough to address key-man dependency and reporting hygiene before going to market.

Managing a sale process while keeping a contracting business running is one of the most common concerns construction-sector founders raise at the outset of M&A — and it is a valid one. A structured sell-side process places real demands on leadership time and attention at exactly the point when project performance, client confidence, and site delivery matter most. The right UK M&A advisor manages the process around founder capacity: handling buyer communications, coordinating legal and financial advisors, and acting as a buffer between the business and the transaction. Steve Hulse and the Skerritts management team continued to deliver active construction projects throughout the CapEQ engagement — client relationships remained stable, project commitments were honoured, and commercial momentum was sustained — all of which supported the quality and terms of the offers received.

A structured sell-side M&A process for a UK electrical contracting or construction-services business typically takes between nine and 15 months from formal advisor appointment to legal completion. Timelines are influenced by the readiness of financial and project information, the complexity of work-in-progress and project accounting, the number of bidders engaged in the process, and the speed of buyer due diligence — which in this sector includes detailed review of project margins, contract terms, and health-and-safety record. Cross-border transactions, such as a sale to a European acquirer with a UK target, add a further layer of legal and tax coordination that should be planned for at the outset. At CapEQ, the timetable is agreed with the founder before any approach to market, with milestones communicated and adhered to throughout.

Choosing the right sell-side M&A advisor for a UK electrical contracting or construction-sector business comes down to three things: sector-specific valuation fluency, a demonstrable track record of completed transactions in adjacent categories, and independence from conflicts of interest. A generalist advisor may be capable of running a process, but a specialist who understands maintainable EBITDA adjustments, project-pipeline valuation, the active buyer universe across UK and European technical-services platforms, and the integration patterns of acquirers such as TSG will produce a materially different outcome. CapEQ is a Certified B Corporation — independently certified to prioritise client outcomes over deal income — and has completed sell-side transactions across the UK construction, manufacturing, and technical-services sectors with both trade and financial buyers. Founders considering an exit should expect, and ask for, evidence on each of those three dimensions before appointing an advisor.