Sector multiples
Recruitment & Staffing Valuation Multiples
UK recruitment and staffing businesses are priced on adjusted EBITDA, with buyers weighting perm/temp mix, sector niche and consultant retention heavily. Contingent perm desks with a single-industry focus trade lower than mixed perm/temp businesses with sticky, contracted temp books.
Written by Tony Vaughan, Founder, BusinessValuation.co.uk. Last reviewed July 2026. Back to the full multiples guide.
H2 2026 guidance range
Under £1m adjusted EBITDA
3.0x–5.0x
£1m+ adjusted EBITDA
4.0x–6.0x
Typical buyer pool: Recruitment consolidators, private equity roll-ups, and larger sector-focused staffing groups.
What pushes a deal toward the top of the band
- Temp or contract revenue above 50% with contracted margins
- Specialist vertical (medical, energy, technology, engineering) with pricing power and repeat clients
- Consultant tenure averaging 3+ years with clear billing per head
- Documented candidate database with sustained placement rates
- No single client above 15% of gross profit
What pushes a deal toward the bottom
- Contingent perm-only desks with no forward book
- Concentrated client base with the top three at 40%+ of gross profit
- High consultant churn and heavy dependency on the founder's own billings
- Temp business with margins under 15% and no client rate reviews in 24 months
- PSL positions vulnerable to competitive re-tender in the next 12 months
Using this range for your business
The sector sets the band. Where inside the band your specific business lands is decided by the eight value drivers we cover in the eight factors that affect business value: earnings quality, growth trajectory, customer concentration, recurring revenue share, gross margin and margin stability, sector tailwind, absolute scale of EBITDA, and owner reliance.
The headline enterprise value from a multiple is not the cash that arrives in your account on completion day. Debt, debt-like items, working-capital true-up, deferred consideration and tax all sit between the multiple and the net cash proceeds. We cover that gap in why EBITDA alone is not enough.
Interactive tool
Where do I sit inside my sector's band?
Score your business against the eight value drivers. The tool plots your position inside the H2 2026 range for your sector. Guidance only, not a valuation.
Recruitment & Staffing
Your indicative position
0 of 8 drivers scored
Recruitment & Staffing • Under £1m adjusted EBITDA • published range 3.0x–5.0x
Answer all eight drivers to see your position inside the 3.0x–5.0x band.
Guidance only. This tool positions your business inside the published sector band; it does not widen the band or produce a valuation. A valuation requires normalised earnings, evidenced comparables and a worked equity bridge.
Sector comparison
Compare two adjacent sectors, driver by driver
Pick a sector on the left and one of its adjacent sectors on the right. The eight value drivers map to each sector's H2 2026 EBITDA multiple band so you can see which drivers matter most in each buyer pool.
Locked to this sector page.
Why adjacent: shared workforce-margin economics and buy-and-build platforms.
Recruitment & Staffing
H2 2026 guidance band
Under £1m EBITDA
3.0x–5.0x
£1m+ EBITDA
4.0x–6.0x
Typical buyer pool: Recruitment consolidators, private equity roll-ups, and larger sector-focused staffing groups.
Facilities Management & Cleaning
H2 2026 guidance band
Under £1m EBITDA
3.0x–5.0x
£1m+ EBITDA
4.0x–6.0x
Typical buyer pool: National FM consolidators, private equity buy-and-build platforms, and international soft-services groups.
Earnings quality
Clean, evidenced adjusted EBITDA survives diligence and defends the top of the band. Rough add-backs get discounted.
MaterialMaterial input but rarely the swing factor on its own.
MaterialMaterial input but rarely the swing factor on its own.
Growth trajectory
Three-year revenue and EBITDA trend. Growth pulls the multiple toward the top of the band; decline pulls it to the bottom.
MaterialMaterial input but rarely the swing factor on its own.
MaterialMaterial input but rarely the swing factor on its own.
Customer concentration
Top-customer share of revenue. Buyers discount hard for concentration risk, particularly without long contracts.
High impactMoves the multiple by a meaningful fraction of the sector band.
High impactMoves the multiple by a meaningful fraction of the sector band.
Recurring / contracted revenue
Share of revenue under multi-year contract or genuine repeat pattern. Recurring revenue re-rates the multiple upward.
MaterialMaterial input but rarely the swing factor on its own.
High impactMoves the multiple by a meaningful fraction of the sector band.
Gross margin & stability
Level and consistency of gross margin. Above-benchmark, stable margin signals pricing power and lifts the multiple.
MaterialMaterial input but rarely the swing factor on its own.
MaterialMaterial input but rarely the swing factor on its own.
Sector tailwind
Whether the sub-sector is attracting active buyer competition right now. Hot sub-sectors clear at the top of the band.
MaterialMaterial input but rarely the swing factor on its own.
MaterialMaterial input but rarely the swing factor on its own.
Absolute scale of EBITDA
The buyer pool widens as adjusted EBITDA crosses £1m and again at £3m, typically re-rating the band by half a turn upward.
MaterialMaterial input but rarely the swing factor on its own.
High impactMoves the multiple by a meaningful fraction of the sector band.
Owner reliance
A business that runs without the owner sells for more. Second-line management is credited; owner-run books are discounted.
High impactMoves the multiple by a meaningful fraction of the sector band.
High impactMoves the multiple by a meaningful fraction of the sector band.
Guidance only. Emphasis reflects how much each driver typically moves the multiple within the published sector band; it does not widen the band or produce a formal valuation.
Related sectors: adjacent buyer pools and valuation bands
Sectors that share buyers, deal mechanics or a neighbouring multiple range with recruitment & staffing. Useful if your business straddles categories, or if you want to see where an adjacent buyer pool would price you.
All sectors in the H2 2026 guide
Recruitment & Staffing multiples FAQ
The questions owners ask most often when reading the sector range.
What is a typical EBITDA multiple for a UK recruitment & staffing business?
H2 2026 guidance ranges are 3.0x–5.0x for businesses under £1m of adjusted EBITDA and 4.0x–6.0x for businesses at or above £1m. The sector sets the band; where inside the band a specific business lands is decided by recurring revenue share, customer concentration, management depth and margin quality.
Why do smaller businesses in this sector sell for lower multiples?
Smaller businesses trade below their larger sector peers because buyers price in higher owner dependency, thinner second-line management, less contracted revenue and a smaller pool of willing acquirers. As adjusted EBITDA moves through the £1m mark the buyer pool widens to include institutional and private equity capital, and the band typically re-rates upward by half a turn to a full turn.
How do I move my business toward the top of the band?
Work on the specific drivers listed above under 'What pushes a deal toward the top of the band'. In most cases the fastest gains come from lengthening contracts, reducing customer concentration below 20%, and building genuine second-line management so the buyer sees a business that runs without you.
Is this a valuation of my business?
No. These are indicative sector guidance ranges for UK owner-managed businesses with adjusted EBITDA broadly between £100k and £5m. A valuation requires the earnings to be normalised, the multiple to be evidenced against comparable recent UK transactions, and the equity bridge worked. That is the free indicative valuation, delivered in two to three weeks with no obligation.
Get a free, confidential indicative valuation
A written range for your recruitment & staffing business built on your actual numbers, direct with Tony Vaughan. Two to three week turnaround. No obligation.