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 2024 Awards Achievement
It has been an incredible year of recognition for Signs Express and as we approach the end of 2024 we reflect on our awards achievements over the past twelve months.
Celebrating 35 years of ‘Bringing Brands to Life’ this year and making great strides in delivering our transformational five-year strategy, we’re humbled to see the innovations, developments and hard work from our network and our Franchise Support Centre pay off. Being recognised for our achievements amongst our peers within our creative industry and within the franchising sector, is an incredible feeling and we’re hugely grateful.
With a network of over 60 locations and a team of 20 individuals at our Franchise Support Centre, we are thrilled to see our network in the limelight and being acknowledged for the amazing talents, passion and service we deliver day in and day out.
A Year in Review: Awards 2024…
February
Kicking off the year was The Sign and Wrap Awards, focusing on our industry’s leading talent and showstopping projects. As finalists across three categories, including Best Vehicle Wrap and Best Architectural Film Project, we were over the moon to see Matt Rutlidge of Signs Express (Central Lancashire) walk away with the coveted highly commended award in the Industry Champion category after only five months of business ownership.
March
Next up were the Elite Franchise UK Top 100 Awards celebrating the very best brands in franchising. We were delighted to have been awarded the Rising Star award for the second year in a row, along with another jump up the charts to number 27!
July
July brought along a trip to the House of Lords for three special individuals, as we saw our very own Abbie Wagstaff from the Franchise Support Centre along with Tori Kendrick from Signs Express (Birmingham) and Kyle Wright from Signs Express (Central Lancashire) receiving their Rising Star Awards from The Printing Charity, recognising them as some of the top young talent in the industry.
October
Time for the much-anticipated UK Graphic Awards, the biggest night in the UK wide-format print calendar. With four centres nominated across five categories, we were completely taken-aback with Signs Express (Twickenham) being awarded the silver award in the Roll-Out category, Kyle Wright from Signs Express (Central Lancashire) highly commended in the Rising Star category and José Ferreira and the team at Signs Express (Southampton) scooping the gold award for the Branded Interiors category. The room was filled with an enormous amount of talent and some very tough competition, so we were beyond thrilled to see our teams be recognised!
November
Then came the BFA HSBC British Franchise Awards 2024, the most prestigious awards in UK franchising where we were finalists across two categories. Still smiling from ear to ear from the news, we were overwhelmed to walk away victorious with a win in the Franchisor Business Transformation category! This was a hugely special award for us as a franchisor, as it was a culmination of all the work undertaken over the past couple of years to build relationships and connections across our network, develop and implement new systems, refine our business model and find new ways to share best practices.
Lastly, as a new award emerges within the industry, we end the year on a high, as we see five of our centres nominated across nine categories for the inaugural Sign Industry Awards which will be announced in February 2025!
It’s fair to say it’s been quite a year for us at Signs Express and with time to reflect on our collective achievements, we feel immensely proud and honoured to celebrate such fantastic accomplishments, a real testament to the individuals and their teams across our network who make up the essence of our brand.
Thank you also goes out to our amazing customers who trust us each and every day with their creative projects. More than a logo and more than a sign, we understand that your brand is your story, your reputation and your promise to your customers, so thank you for trusting us to help bring your brands to life for the past 35 years.
Considering owning your own business in 2025?
Signs Express offers both resale and start-up franchise opportunities designed to set you up for success with full support along the way in a creative and innovative industry.
Our resale opportunities allow you to step into a successful business with an established client base, whereas our start-up options offer you the chance to build your dream franchise from the ground up with our full support.
To join our award-winning network, get in touch today to find out more!
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
