We are delighted to report a recovery in the UK market during 2024, as the repercussions following the 2022 mini-budget were unwound and we saw an increase in business confidence. That was despite the calling of a snap general election in the UK and other concerns from businesses around changes in policy, following the change in government. 

In 2024, we had our busiest ever year for deal completions and concluded the sale of over 1,100 business properties. There was no shortage of appetite from buyers, who in the independent segment of the market, remained ambitious to seek out opportunities to expand their portfolios. Deal times did however take longer during the year, with transactions taking an average of seven months from acceptance of offer to completion. This reflected an increase of just over a month longer than in the prior year.

The 2024 Autumn Budget revealed a number of unexpected changes, particularly the increase in employer National Insurance contributions which will hit all businesses hard when it takes effect in April 2025. We feel the ability to pass on further price increases to the consumer will be stretched to breaking point for some businesses, off the back of several years of very high inflation. For this reason, we do predict to see an increase in business distress cases over the next 12 months.

Our valuation and consultancy teams remain busy working on pan-European assignments, which include some of the largest pub companies and internationally branded hotels.

We continued to monitor price movements across our specialist sectors and this year we report an overall fall in the average price of businesses sold by Christie & Co of 0.7%. This reflects an increase in the number of corporate divestments at the lower value end of their portfolios, with first-time buyers and small independent groups remaining very acquisitive.

In Europe, we launched a healthcare team in France, building on the strength of our UK business and the recent launch in Germany. We will look to expand into other operational real estate markets across Europe in 2025, as we build on relationships with investors as they explore new markets.  

In May 2025, we will celebrate our 90th anniversary. Our teams have been successfully advising and selling businesses across our specialist sectors for many years and we are proud to have supported some of our clients in their journey from buying their very first business, to building portfolios worth into the billions. We hugely value those relationships and look forward to celebrating this milestone and continuing the journey with you.