Latest UK M&A Statistics for Q1-24
The UK Office for National Statistics have just released their latest statistics for Q1-24. Below is the update on Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) involving UK companies for Q1-24, during the period JAN-MAR 2024.
Please note that these include only transactions that result in a change of ultimate control of the target company and have a value of £1M or more. Also numbers are provisional and may be subject to revisions in either direction, but are more likely to be upwards than downwards.
Headline Statistics for UK M&A Q1-24
In Q1-24, total number of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) was 426, 18 fewer transactions than in the previous quarter (444).
Monthly M&A saw a total of 174 in JAN-24, falling 22 to 152 in FEB-24, declining 52 further to 100 in MAR24.
In Q1-24, total value of outward M&A was £4.4Bn, £0.9Bn higher than the previous quarter (£3.5Bn).
Domestic M&A in Q1-24 was £3.0Bn, similar to previous quarter (£3.0Bn).
Value of inward M&A in Q1-24 was £6.1Bn, £4.0Bn lower than Q4-23 (£10.1Bn).
Monthly UK M&A Q1-24
Total (M&A) saw a notable increase in JAN-24 (174), falling in FEB-24 (152), then sharply decreasing in MAR-24 (100).
Total numbers M&A in MAR-24 was lower than the number of deals in JAN-24 and FEB-24 for all three types of acquisitions. For inward (33) and outward (13) M&A, the numbers in MAR-24 dropped to levels last seen in AUG-20 (27 inward deals) & NOV-20 (11 outward deals).
Total number of monthly M&A fell sharply FEB-MAR 2024
Total number of monthly M&A from JAN-20 to MAR-24 ranged from 58 to 290.
Domestic M&A was 77 transactions in JAN-24, increasing to 87 in FEB-24 decreasing to 54 in MAR-24.
Outward M&A saw a notable decline between JAN (31) & FEB (20), declining further to 13 in MAR-24.
Inward M&A was 66 acquisitions during JAN-24, falling to 45 in FEB and 33 in MAR.
The Bank of England’s summary of business conditions for Q1-24 reported that:
Investment intentions for the year ahead are a little more positive than in recent rounds. Contacts seem more optimistic about the economic outlook owing to inflation falling and a sense that interest rates and the cost of funding will follow […] Contacts continue to prefer to fund investment out of cash and are reluctant to take on borrowing.
The Bank of England
The same report stated that:
Business services revenue growth is picking up slightly on a year ago and contacts expect it to strengthen modestly during 2024 […] Corporate transactional activity, such as mergers and acquisitions and project financing, is increasing as confidence grows that interest rates have peaked […] The story is not entirely positive across the business services sector. Continued constraints on discretionary spending means weak growth in advertising, marketing, and consultancy.
The Bank of England
Outward UK M&A Q1-24
Value Outward UK M&A Q1-24
In Q1-24, the value of outward M&A was £4.4B. This was £0.9Bn higher than in the previous quarter (£3.5Bn) and £0.3Bn lower than Q1-23 (£4.7Bn).
Two large value outward acquisitions that completed in Q1-24 were:
- Aiolos Bio Inc, USA was acquired by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK Plc), UK
- Gracell Biotechnologies Inc, of the Cayman Islands, was acquired by Astrazeneca Plc, UK
Value outward M&A increased steadily between Q3-23 and Q1-24
value outward M&A between Q1-20 and Q1-24 ranged from £1.7Bn to £32.1Bn
Value Outward UK M&A Q1-24 £Bn
Number Outward UK M&A Q1-24
There were 64 outward acquisitions in Q1-4, 2 fewer than in the previous quarter (66) and 5 fewer than Q1-23 (69).
Number of outward M&A remained relatively stable between Q4-23 and Q1-24.
Total number of outward M&A between Q1-20 and Q1-24 ranged from 30 to 94 transactions.
Domestic UK M&A Q1-24
Value Domestic UK M&A Q1-24
Value of domestic M&A in Q1-24 was £3.0Bn, broadly consistent with previous quarter (£3.0Bn) and £0.9Bn higher than Q1-23 (£2.1Bn).
One notable completed domestic M&A in Q1-24 was the acquisition of LXI Reit Plc by Londonmetric Property Plc, both of UK.
Value of domestic M&A between Q1-20 and Q1-24 ranged from £0.9Bn to £17.9Bn.
Number Domestic UK M&A Q1-24
Domestic M&A was 218 during Q1-24, 11 more than the previous quarter (207) & 8 more than in Q1-3 (210).
The numbers of quarterly domestic M&A between Q3-23 and Q1-24 have steadily increased.
The total number of domestic M&A between Q1-20 and Q1-24 ranged from 164 to 335.
Inward UK M&A Q1-24
Value Inward UK M&A Q1-24
Value inward M&A in Q1-24 fell to £6.1Bn, a decrease of £4.0Bn compared with the previous quarter (£10.1Bn) and £5.6Bn less than Q1-23 (£11.7Bn).
A notable inward acquisition that completed in Q1-24, was the acquisition of Neptune Energy Group Ltd, of the UK by Ente Nazionale Idrocarburi (ENI SpA), of Italy.
The value of inward M&A between Q1-20 and Q1-24 ranged from £2.8Bn to £32.9Bn.
Number Inward UK M&A Q1-24
Inward M&A transactions in Q1-24 were 144, a decrease of 27 on the previous quarter (171) & 40 fewer than Q1-23 (184).
Total number of inward M&A acquisitions between Q1-20 and Q1-24 ranged from 81 to 221.
The above data for M&A Statistics for Q1-24 was extracted from the Office of National Statistics; full details here.
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Tags: M&A Statistics, M&A Stats, Office for National Statistics, Q1 2024, Q1-24, UK
