Management Consulting

ValIndex's multiples table puts Swiss management consulting firms at 5.0–7.5× EBITDA in transactions and 4.0–6.0× EBITDA on statutory valuations. The range is wide because the firms are: a specialist team with recurring mandates, several partners and clients that stay after a sale sits at the top; a founder-run practice whose clients buy the founder sits below it or sells only with a long earn-out. Big Four consulting revenue fell in 2025 (Deloitte Switzerland −11%), so buyers look closely at the pipeline and at how much revenue depends on discretionary projects.

Buyers price four things: (1) independence from the founder — how many partners hold the key client relationships; (2) revenue quality — recurring or framework mandates versus one-off projects, and exposure to discretionary budgets, which fell in 2025; (3) specialism — sector or technology expertise a consolidator cannot easily build, the profile Eraneos and Implement Consulting Group have been buying; (4) utilisation and team structure, since personnel is the main cost. Client concentration is the most common reason for a discount.

The Federal Statistical Office counted 24,048 business and management consultancy units (NOGA 70.22) in 2024, employing 69,432 people or 54,525 full-time equivalents (BFS STATENT). The number has grown every year, from 17,322 in 2014. Most are very small — 2.27 full-time equivalents per unit on average — and the count includes one-person practices. Zurich has 5,567 units, Vaud 2,106, Zug 1,974 and Bern 1,797.

Succession is the sector's structural weakness: with 2.27 full-time equivalents per unit on average, most consultancies are their owners, and clients often buy the person rather than the firm. Practices that have spread client relationships across several partners and built recurring mandates can be sold; consolidators such as Eraneos and Implement Consulting Group buy specialist teams of 20 to 70 people. Founder-dependent practices are usually sold with an earn-out or merged into a partner firm, and many simply close.

Five trends: (1) Big Four consulting fell in 2025 while audit and tax grew — Deloitte Switzerland's consulting −11%, KPMG's advisory −1.1%; (2) more but smaller firms — units +2.8% in 2024, employees +1.2%; (3) consolidators buying specialist boutiques, documented in the commercial register; (4) AI automating the research and analysis done by junior consultants; (5) regulation — minimum tax, tariffs, sustainability rules — driving the mandates that grew.

The main risks are: (1) client relationships leaving with the seller — mitigated by earn-outs and by retaining the partners who hold them; (2) exposure to discretionary budgets, which fell in 2025; (3) AI eroding analysis work billed by the day; (4) key-person risk among senior consultants, who can set up on their own at low cost. Due diligence should map revenue by client, by partner and by type of mandate.

Personnel is by far the largest cost of a consultancy — indicatively around 55% of revenue, plus about 8% for subcontractors and freelancers, with office, IT and travel making up most of the rest; an EBITDA margin of around 15% is a common benchmark for owner-managed firms. No Swiss statistic publishes a consulting cost structure, so these figures are indicative. The margin depends mainly on utilisation, the share of paid hours that are billed.

Zurich is the largest cluster, with 5,567 units and 22,300 employees in 2024 — 32% of the sector's employment. Lake Geneva (Vaud and Geneva) follows with 3,629 units and 12,620 employees. Central Switzerland has 4,441 units but small ones: Zug and Schwyz average under two full-time equivalents per unit. Bern (1,797 units), Ticino (1,524) and Basel (1,383) complete the picture (BFS STATENT 2024).