{"id":58659,"date":"2023-09-25T11:48:00","date_gmt":"2023-09-25T09:48:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/editing.capitalmind.com\/?p=58659"},"modified":"2026-07-01T09:54:03","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T07:54:03","slug":"our-insights-on-the-consulting-sector","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.investec.com\/advisory\/our-insights-on-the-consulting-sector\/","title":{"rendered":"Our insights on the Consulting sector"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The consulting industry continues to demonstrate notable resilience amid a challenging macroeconomic backdrop, with our analysis pointing to double-digit growth, sustained M&A consolidation, and a softening but still active valuation environment. Drawing on our International Consulting practice’s global footprint of over 375 M&A professionals and more than \u20ac25bn in completed transactions over the past five years, this report sets out our perspective on the forces shaping the sector through the remainder of 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The UK consulting market is forecast to grow 13% in 2023, moderating from 23% the prior year, as firms navigate geopolitical instability, talent shortages, and persistent wage inflation. Despite these pressures, profitability across IT consulting, management consulting, and professional services softened only modestly in 2022, with leading players responding by investing in digital capabilities and AI, diversifying service lines and geographic exposure, and prioritising longer-term, higher-margin client relationships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consolidation remains a defining feature of the market, spanning management, operational, financial services, and digital consultancy segments. Each is being reshaped by distinct dynamics, from client demand for integrated, one-stop-shop solutions in management consulting, to nearshoring and AI-driven transformation in operational consulting, regulatory complexity in financial services, and the ongoing shift toward technology-enabled operating models in digital consulting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the same time, public market valuations for listed consultancies have edged lower over the past twelve months, with the average FY EV\/EBITDA multiple declining from 12.8x to 11.4x. This contraction has occurred despite robust underlying financial performance across much of the sector, suggesting the move reflects broader macroeconomic sentiment rather than a deterioration in company fundamentals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taken together, these trends underscore a consulting sector that remains structurally attractive to investors and acquirers alike, even as it adapts to a more complex operating environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you have questions and would like to know more \u2013 please get in touch: ervin.schellenberg@investec.com<\/a>, mirko.nikkels@investec.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
Download the report<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The consulting industry continues to demonstrate notable resilience amid a challenging macroeconomic backdrop, with our analysis pointing to double-digit growth,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":58672,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[71],"tags":[],"news-event-type":[],"dealtype":[],"class_list":["post-58659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sector-and-product-insights","ps-business-services"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nOur insights on the Consulting sector | Investec Business Advisory<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.investec.com\/advisory\/our-insights-on-the-consulting-sector\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Our insights on the Consulting sector | Investec Business Advisory\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The consulting industry continues to demonstrate notable resilience amid a challenging macroeconomic backdrop, with our analysis pointing to double-digit growth,...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.investec.com\/advisory\/our-insights-on-the-consulting-sector\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Investec Business Advisory\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-09-25T09:48:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-07-01T07:54:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.investec.com\/advisory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/business.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1008\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"509\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kavita Datta Chaudhuri\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kavita Datta Chaudhuri\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.investec.com\\\/advisory\\\/our-insights-on-the-consulting-sector\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.investec.com\\\/advisory\\\/our-insights-on-the-consulting-sector\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Kavita Datta Chaudhuri\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.investec.com\\\/advisory\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1bcc4094d811f25a87ae1e015f19781e\"},\"headline\":\"Our insights on the Consulting sector\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-09-25T09:48:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-07-01T07:54:03+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.investec.com\\\/advisory\\\/our-insights-on-the-consulting-sector\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":314,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.investec.com\\\/advisory\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.investec.com\\\/advisory\\\/our-insights-on-the-consulting-sector\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.investec.com\\\/advisory\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/business.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Sector and product Insights\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.investec.com\\\/advisory\\\/our-insights-on-the-consulting-sector\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.investec.com\\\/advisory\\\/our-insights-on-the-consulting-sector\\\/\",\"name\":\"Our insights on the Consulting sector | Investec Business Advisory\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.investec.com\\\/advisory\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.investec.com\\\/advisory\\\/our-insights-on-the-consulting-sector\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.investec.com\\\/advisory\\\/our-insights-on-the-consulting-sector\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.investec.com\\\/advisory\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/business.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-09-25T09:48:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-07-01T07:54:03+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.investec.com\\\/advisory\\\/our-insights-on-the-consulting-sector\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.investec.com\\\/advisory\\\/our-insights-on-the-consulting-sector\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.investec.com\\\/advisory\\\/our-insights-on-the-consulting-sector\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.investec.com\\\/advisory\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/business.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.investec.com\\\/advisory\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/business.jpg\",\"width\":1008,\"height\":509,\"caption\":\"business.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.investec.com\\\/advisory\\\/our-insights-on-the-consulting-sector\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.investec.com\\\/advisory\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Our insights on the Consulting sector\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.investec.com\\\/advisory\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.investec.com\\\/advisory\\\/\",\"name\":\"Investec Business Advisory\",\"description\":\"Investec Business Advisory\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.investec.com\\\/advisory\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.investec.com\\\/advisory\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.investec.com\\\/advisory\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Capitalmind Investec\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.investec.com\\\/advisory\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.investec.com\\\/advisory\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.investec.com\\\/advisory\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/01\\\/Logo_Investec_cmjn_6.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.investec.com\\\/advisory\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/01\\\/Logo_Investec_cmjn_6.jpg\",\"width\":1120,\"height\":1121,\"caption\":\"Capitalmind Investec\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.investec.com\\\/advisory\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/company\\\/capitalmind---corporate-finance-advisory\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/channel\\\/UC4bVt7iNejh8tGT6Qfa9R4w\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.investec.com\\\/advisory\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1bcc4094d811f25a87ae1e015f19781e\",\"name\":\"Kavita Datta Chaudhuri\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/08c4c10f6742fd81b9f65fccc841eaa2a13f44e4dee73615cee683b492245f3f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/08c4c10f6742fd81b9f65fccc841eaa2a13f44e4dee73615cee683b492245f3f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/08c4c10f6742fd81b9f65fccc841eaa2a13f44e4dee73615cee683b492245f3f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Kavita Datta Chaudhuri\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.investec.com\\\/advisory\\\/author\\\/kavitachaudhuri\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Our insights on the Consulting sector | Investec Business Advisory","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.investec.com\/advisory\/our-insights-on-the-consulting-sector\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Our insights on the Consulting sector | Investec Business Advisory","og_description":"The consulting industry continues to demonstrate notable resilience amid a challenging macroeconomic backdrop, with our analysis pointing to double-digit growth,...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.investec.com\/advisory\/our-insights-on-the-consulting-sector\/","og_site_name":"Investec Business Advisory","article_published_time":"2023-09-25T09:48:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-07-01T07:54:03+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1008,"height":509,"url":"https:\/\/www.investec.com\/advisory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/business.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Kavita Datta Chaudhuri","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Kavita Datta Chaudhuri","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.investec.com\/advisory\/our-insights-on-the-consulting-sector\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.investec.com\/advisory\/our-insights-on-the-consulting-sector\/"},"author":{"name":"Kavita Datta Chaudhuri","@id":"https:\/\/www.investec.com\/advisory\/#\/schema\/person\/1bcc4094d811f25a87ae1e015f19781e"},"headline":"Our insights on the Consulting sector","datePublished":"2023-09-25T09:48:00+00:00","dateModified":"2026-07-01T07:54:03+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.investec.com\/advisory\/our-insights-on-the-consulting-sector\/"},"wordCount":314,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.investec.com\/advisory\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.investec.com\/advisory\/our-insights-on-the-consulting-sector\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.investec.com\/advisory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/business.jpg","articleSection":["Sector and product Insights"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.investec.com\/advisory\/our-insights-on-the-consulting-sector\/","url":"https:\/\/www.investec.com\/advisory\/our-insights-on-the-consulting-sector\/","name":"Our insights on the Consulting sector | Investec Business Advisory","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.investec.com\/advisory\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.investec.com\/advisory\/our-insights-on-the-consulting-sector\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.investec.com\/advisory\/our-insights-on-the-consulting-sector\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.investec.com\/advisory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/business.jpg","datePublished":"2023-09-25T09:48:00+00:00","dateModified":"2026-07-01T07:54:03+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.investec.com\/advisory\/our-insights-on-the-consulting-sector\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.investec.com\/advisory\/our-insights-on-the-consulting-sector\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.investec.com\/advisory\/our-insights-on-the-consulting-sector\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.investec.com\/advisory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/business.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.investec.com\/advisory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/business.jpg","width":1008,"height":509,"caption":"business.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.investec.com\/advisory\/our-insights-on-the-consulting-sector\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.investec.com\/advisory\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Our insights on the Consulting sector"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.investec.com\/advisory\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.investec.com\/advisory\/","name":"Investec Business Advisory","description":"Investec Business Advisory","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.investec.com\/advisory\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.investec.com\/advisory\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.investec.com\/advisory\/#organization","name":"Capitalmind Investec","url":"https:\/\/www.investec.com\/advisory\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.investec.com\/advisory\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.investec.com\/advisory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Logo_Investec_cmjn_6.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.investec.com\/advisory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Logo_Investec_cmjn_6.jpg","width":1120,"height":1121,"caption":"Capitalmind Investec"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.investec.com\/advisory\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/capitalmind---corporate-finance-advisory","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UC4bVt7iNejh8tGT6Qfa9R4w"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.investec.com\/advisory\/#\/schema\/person\/1bcc4094d811f25a87ae1e015f19781e","name":"Kavita Datta Chaudhuri","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/08c4c10f6742fd81b9f65fccc841eaa2a13f44e4dee73615cee683b492245f3f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/08c4c10f6742fd81b9f65fccc841eaa2a13f44e4dee73615cee683b492245f3f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/08c4c10f6742fd81b9f65fccc841eaa2a13f44e4dee73615cee683b492245f3f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Kavita Datta Chaudhuri"},"url":"https:\/\/www.investec.com\/advisory\/author\/kavitachaudhuri\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investec.com\/advisory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investec.com\/advisory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investec.com\/advisory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investec.com\/advisory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investec.com\/advisory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58659"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.investec.com\/advisory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58659\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investec.com\/advisory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investec.com\/advisory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investec.com\/advisory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investec.com\/advisory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58659"},{"taxonomy":"news-event-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investec.com\/advisory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-event-type?post=58659"},{"taxonomy":"dealtype","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investec.com\/advisory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/dealtype?post=58659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}