Are you looking for the next step in your career? Is now the time to work for yourself rather than contributing to someone else’s bottom line? Are you looking for a positive work-life balance whilst running your own business?
Our current resales include:
- Signs Express (Exeter)
- Signs Express (Huddersfield)
- Signs Express (Liverpool & Wirral)
- Signs Express (Harlow)
- Signs Express (Macclesfield)
Being your own boss isn’t a career choice, it’s a lifestyle choice… So, turn your career into a lifestyle today with Signs Express:
- Become part of the UK’s largest signs and graphics network
- Creative, high profit industry with 20% EBITDA potential
- Be your own boss and operate in your own territory
- Opportunity to achieve £750,000 turnover and beyond
- Monday – Friday working hours
- Full training and support provided
- Established, respected brand with over 35 years of experience
- Expansion potential
- UK wide network support and UK based Franchise Support Centre
- Innovative industry where no two days are the same
Why Choose Signs Express?
Offering bespoke signage and graphics solutions to customers large and small we offer room for creativity and innovation working with a consultative approach, offering anything from exterior building graphics, illuminated signage, digital signage, vehicle graphics, exhibition and displays, window graphics, bespoke wallpaper, health and safety signage, eco-products and much more.
Established for 35 years, Signs Express is dedicated to delivering our customers' innovative signs and graphics solutions. We interpret our customers visions and advise on the best visual solutions to bring their brands to life. In an ever-growing industry, our forward-thinking strategy combined with our national coverage and local approach allows us to offer our clients the most effective solutions.
Each and every business needs signage or graphics whether it's to attract customers, engage or inspire employees, health and safety notices or to simply inform, we’re here to support our clients bring their brands to life. Due to the variety of industries we service and the huge range we offer, the signage industry can be viewed as recession proof as every situation presents opportunities.
Extensive Training Programme: Setting you up for Success
With a commitment to help you grow your business and achieve your goals, we offer extensive training and support to our franchisees to ensure you are set up for success. Throughout your Signs Express career, we offer:
- Comprehensive onboarding programme for all new franchisees including classroom learning and hands-on training
- Business Coaching and Mentoring
- Ongoing training for existing franchisees and their teams via our custom-built Learning Management Platform
- Live training sessions from our company owned flagship centre in Twickenham
- Business Health Checks ensuring best practice
- Dedicated Franchise Support Centre and centre visits, offering support and training to our network across all disciplines including finance, IT, local and national marketing, operational, recruitment, business planning and sales
- Social media training
- Exit planning and realising your resale value
- Sharing of best practice from fellow franchisees and from our supplier partners
Hear from our Franchisees:
Kris Bell, Signs Express (Aylesbury): Catching up with Kris after 12 months of ownership:
“The last year has been a whirlwind. Being quite a risk averse individual, I usually spend a lot of time weighing things up, however after the busiest 12 months of my career, I’ve definitely had to adapt the way I work, along with my overall business approach and I’ve learnt a lot about myself for sure, along with help and support from the Franchise Support Centre offering guidance and support each step of the way.
I’ve loved every minute of it (despite the challenges) and I’ve met some fantastic individuals in local businesses and built some great relationships with our customers along the way. I’m really pleased with where the business has been heading and the progress we’ve made as a team, so I felt ready for the next step in my Signs Express journey by venturing into the new hub and spoke model.”
Matt Rutlidge, Signs Express (Central Lancashire): Speaking with Matt as he moves into ownership:
“After 14 years with Signs Express and working as Centre Manager for the past four years, I am thrilled to announce that I am now the proud owner of Signs Express (Central Lancashire), serving the local areas of Preston, Blackpool and Blackburn. I’m fortunate enough to have fantastic relationships with the majority of our customers and suppliers already, however I’m excited to spend the coming weeks and months reaching out and speaking with many more local businesses to see how we can work together.
I’m extremely passionate about what I do and with a dedicated, experienced team around me, we’re excited to see where we can take the business and continue to explore and push the boundaries of what we can create for our local communities and beyond.”
Roy Heeley and John McEntee, Signs Express (Liverpool & Wirral): Discuss what they enjoy most about working in the signage industry:
“Having started the business from scratch many years ago, we are still learning 20 years later! We thrive when working in a creative environment offering a varied and diverse approach to our customers means every day is different. We’re both sociable individuals and enjoy getting out and about meeting new customers. Building relationships is key to the success of the business, leading to repeat business, a solid reputation and word of mouth recommendations. Many of our good friends started off as customers and it’s great that they’ve been on the journey with us.
Work life balance is also essential, our Monday-Friday working days have allowed us to spend time with our friends and family whilst enjoying the benefits of running our own business. Undoubtedly the support from our fellow franchisees along with support from the franchise support centre has been integral to our success.”
Who are we looking for?
Full support and training is provided throughout your Signs Express career, therefore no industry experience is required.
We are looking for two types of franchisees:
- Business savvy, hands-on managers with no industry experience but have the desire, drive and ambition to take a business to the next level.
- Career driven sign makers and production managers that are experienced in the industry with ambitions to own and grow their own business with our support.
Our ideal franchisee will be extremely personable with the ability to build relationships, act consultatively to help build solutions, they will be driven, ambitious, a good all-rounder, creative and not afraid of hard work.
‘A Day in the Life of a Franchisee’
As a centre owner no two days will be the same, you’ll be the key relationship manager for your customers, you’ll be the face of the business, the driving force for innovation, you’ll work in a consultative manner and be the voice of authority in your field, offering bespoke solutions to your customers, all delivered with outstanding customer care.
Investment and Funding:
- Franchise Fee of £8,500 for a resale purchase or £25,000 for a start-up opportunity
- Investment levels vary for our resale opportunities depending on the size of the business. Current opportunities range from £99,950 to £250,000.
- A total investment of £215,000 is required for a start-up opportunity.
- At Signs Express we can support you with funding via our 3rd party financial partners such as HSBC.
- Typically, 30% of the asking price is required in liquid capital, however we will work with you to look at different funding approaches if required.
Please get in touch today to find out more!
- Franchise Fee: £25,000
- Minimum Investment: £215,000
- Minimum Liquid Capital: £65,000
Signs Express Franchise Opportunity in Liverpool & Wirral: All you need to know!
Signs Express is the UK and Ireland’s leading signs and graphics business, with an established, respected brand and over 60 centres and 30+ years’ experience. Offering bespoke signage and graphics solutions to customers large and small we offer room for creativity and innovation, offering anything from exterior building graphics, illuminated signage, digital signage, vehicle wrapping, exhibition and displays, window graphics, bespoke wallpaper, health and safety signage, eco-products, the list goes on!
Here's what you need to know:
- Operating for over 20 years with an extensive and loyal customer base
- Extended territory serving the whole of Liverpool and Wirral and spanning both sides of the Mersey taking the business total to over 20,000 selected businesses
- Ideally situated on Croft Business Park in Bromborough
- Asking price: £175,000 with potential for negotiation
- Opportunity to reach £500k+ turnover
- EBITDA profit margin potential at c.20%
- Personal capital investment required: c.£70,000
- Financing support from key lenders such as HSBC
- No industry experience required, full training and onboarding is provided
- Full support from the UK based Franchise Support Centre and wider network
The Opportunity
Showing persistent growth in both turnover and profit over the last few years and along with process efficiencies and a skilled team in place the centre presents a great business opportunity. Operating from a 3,000sqft modern industrial unit in Bromborough, Signs Express (Liverpool & Wirral) services areas including Birkenhead, Bromborough and Seacombe as well as Liverpool and Wirral. Upon completion, the territory will also expand to include areas such as Crosby, Kirkby, Aintree, Garston and Allerton Huyton presenting plenty of room for business growth and expansion.
Currently operating at silver level within the Signs Express network, the centre offers a new owner a solid business with sales and EBITDA in an upward trajectory, a fantastic team, loyal customer base, full suite of equipment, great location and territory expansion along with an immaculate unit, allowing you to hit the ground running and start generating your ROI from day one. Whilst this is an established business, the expansion potential allows you to put your stamp on the business to take it to the next level. With a forward-thinking strategy in place, there is also opportunity to expand the business further by taking on available neighbouring territories.
More questions? Here’s some FAQ’s that may help:
Q. My background isn’t in signage, is training provided?
A. Yes, full and extensive training is given to all new franchisees over a four-week period, plus handover and ongoing support from our Franchise Support Centre team.
Q. Who currently runs the centre?
A. The centre is currently run by Roy Heeley and John McEntee who have owned the business for over 20 years. Upon taking on the centre, a new owner could look to amend the structure by having one business owner plus sales support. The Franchise Support Centre can help with advice regarding structure and how this will affect your bottom line.
Q. Why is the centre being sold?
A. The current owners are moving into retirement.
Q. What’s the minimum capital I need initially to purchase the business?
A. Based on a selling price of £175,000, you would require:
- 30% of the sale price (£52,500) to purchase the business
- £8,500 +VAT franchisee fee for your rights to trade under the Signs Express brand and within the territory for a 10-year period
- £1,250 +VAT for our legal fees
- c. £5-10k for your own legal and accountancy fees to complete the sale and due diligence
- Totalling: c. £72,250
Q. What sort of person are you looking for to take over the business?
A. We’re looking for a business minded, driven individual with strong sales skills, strong team values and a core focus on customer excellence.
Q. Are there any other costs involved?
A. All of the above costs are one off costs associated with the purchase of the business. As a franchise, the only other ongoing monthly costs you will incur are:
1. Monthly Management Service Charge (MSC) fee of 7.5% of your turnover to cover use of the brand, all aspects of support from the Franchise Support Centre including IT, Finance, Sales, Operational Support and Marketing including our website (your shop window), bespoke marketing campaigns and much more.
2. National Promotional Fund (NPF) levy of 1.5% of your turnover, or you can opt to pay NPF at a fixed monthly rate (currently set at £380 per month) which covers all of our national brand advertising, lead generation and your monthly PPC campaign.
Q. If I’m interested in finding out more, what do I do next?
1. First off, send us an enquiry or get in touch over the phone and we’ll arrange a short introductory call with you. This gives us a chance to understand what it is that you’re looking for, what your business experience is and where your skills lie, what your goals are for the future and so we can give you a detailed overview of Signs Express.
2. Following this, if both parties are happy to proceed, we’ll send you the confidential prospectus for our Liverpool centre which gives you more financial information and information specific to the centre (following a signed NDA).
3. We would then invite you to attend one of our Interactive Discovery Days at Signs Express (Twickenham) where you can have a tour of our company owned centre, see demonstrations, meet some of the team and have an open and honest conversation about how the business works.
4. Again, if both parties would like to proceed, we’d then invite you to speak to our network and visit our Liverpool centre to get a real feel for what you’re looking to invest in!
If this is a business opportunity that appeals to you, why not get in touch for a no obligation introductory call and Discovery Day?
I would definitely recommend franchising to those who wish to own a business with large potential. It’s been a fantastic way to grow my opportunities whilst knowing I have all the support, guidance and reassurance just a phone call away.
Signs Express’ dedicated support team ensure I look at the facts and figures giving me advice on the next steps to take. It’s important to keep looking at the bigger picture in order to keep on track with the growth I want for the business. I have a very exciting future ahead of me.
Signs Express Master Franchise Opportunity
