Private equity-backed accountancy and professional services group DJH has acquired Gooding Accounts, a Trowbridge-based practice, marking its first entry into the South West of England. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

DJH is a Stoke-on-Trent-headquartered accountancy and professional services group backed by private equity firm Tenzing, formed in 2021 from the merger of two Stoke firms. The Gooding deal is DJH's latest in a run of more than 20 acquisitions since 2020, taking group headcount to close to 900 staff across 20 UK and Ireland offices.

Gooding Accounts is a Trowbridge-based practice founded in 2014 by Sam Gooding, supporting start-ups, owner-managers and fast-growing businesses across Wiltshire. The firm does not publicly disclose turnover and will continue to be led by Sam and Katy Gooding following the deal.

The deal extends the buy-and-build strategy Tenzing has backed since 2021, when DJH was a single Stoke practice with 4 million pounds in fees. The model rests on a structural feature of the UK accountancy market: roughly 40,200 firms, most with four or fewer employees, giving consolidators a long runway of bolt-on targets.

DJH has moved through several regions in quick succession, following acquisitions in the West Midlands, the Midlands and Welsh Borders, and the South East before this South West entry, each expanding the specialist services, including audit, IHT planning and capital allowances, that a standalone local practice could not offer alone.

Timing matters because bolt-on multiples remain well below platform valuations: smaller practices typically trade at around 6x EBITDA, against 14 to 15 times for larger private equity-backed platforms, rewarding consolidators like DJH for continuing to acquire while that gap holds.

The pattern extends to Ireland, where DJH's existing Dublin office means this South West deal sits inside a platform already active in the Irish market, reinforcing that the roll-up dynamic reshaping UK accountancy has a direct foothold on the island too.

For Ireland's accountancy sector, DJH's trajectory, from a single Stoke firm to a near-900-strong, UK-and-Ireland platform in five years, illustrates how quickly PE-backed consolidation can alter the competitive landscape independent practices face.

Source: Business Sale Report / TheBusinessDesk.com / Accountio / Bains Watts