Find out how external investors would think about the value of your business

The Buyer’s Ten

Ten questions a buyer will ask about your business with the focus on what AI is changing. Score how confident you are of your answers. Takes just a few minutes.

Who this is for: owners and leadership teams who want to maximise the value of their business.

AI impact on professional services M&A

−13%UK professional services deals in 2025 (1,007, down from 1,157)
−25%UK professional services deals in Q1 2026 (174, down from 233 a year earlier)

What this means

  • Fewer firms are being sold.
  • Buyers are still buying, but they are walking away from more of what they see, and AI is one of the reasons.
  • Bain says most acquirers it works with have dropped a deal because of what an AI review turned up.

Sources: Experian MarketIQ, UK M&A review, full year 2025 and Q1 2026 (Experian’s “professional, scientific and technical” sector); Bain & Company, “New Diligence Challenge: Uncovering AI Risks and Opportunities”, October 2025.