Acquisition of the trade and assets of APR

XPS Pensions Group PLC

26 June 2026

 

26 June 2026

XPS Pensions Group plc

("XPS" or the "Group")

Acquisition of the trade and assets of APR

 'Accelerating XPS's diversification strategy and scale in Insurance Consulting'

XPS Group, a leading Pensions and Insurance Consulting and Administration business, is pleased to announce that it has entered into an agreement to acquire the trade and assets of Austin Professional Resourcing LLP ("APR"), an established UK-based specialist actuarial consultancy to leading insurers and financial sector clients (the "Acquisition"). The Acquisition further accelerates the Group's diversification strategy into this large tangential addressable market and its aim of becoming a market leading financial services consulting and administration provider.  The Acquisition is expected to complete on or around 31 July 2026.

APR was established in 2006 and has worked with over 45 insurers and financial sector clients in the last three years, including most of the UK's top 10 insurers. APR has strong client relationships, with a client Net Promoter Score of +70, which is considered excellent. APR prides itself on having a very strong employee culture including an excellent training programme attracting high calibre employees.  APR has an established team of over 70 client facing employees which, combined with the existing XPS insurance consulting team and access to wider XPS actuarial teams, will provide greater scale and enhanced capabilities to accelerate the Group's diversification into the insurance consulting market.

Importantly, APR has expertise in the UK's General Insurance consulting market, which is estimated to have an annual value of c.£1.5bn, with APR having client relationships with over 20 general insurers. This helps position the Group to become a broader insurance consulting provider, strengthening its ability to deliver comprehensive services across both Life and General Insurance markets, unlocking further growth opportunities.

Cash consideration of £3.3 million will be paid on completion, with an additional non-contingent cash consideration of £3.0 million payable by 31 March 2027. A further contingent total cash consideration of up to £10.0 million will be payable in years 2 and 3, contingent on achieving certain stretching business performance criteria. The Acquisition is being funded from the Group's existing cash and available debt facilities.  In the year ended 31 March 2026, APR generated revenues of £10.7 million⁽¹⁾, thereby equating to a transaction multiple of less than 1x revenue.  We expect the transaction to create multiple opportunities, including through cross selling by our broader senior leadership team - XPS can now deliver a comprehensive range of services to tackle the most complex projects.  We also expect there to be opportunities to deploy APR's talented people within our pipeline.

The Acquisition is expected to be earnings enhancing to the Group in the first full year of ownership, with ROIC in excess of the Group's cost of capital by the third full year of ownership.

XPS was advised by Deloitte, PwC and Osborne Clarke on the transaction.

Paul Cuff, Co-CEO of XPS Group, commented:

"We are delighted to announce our transaction with APR, and we look forward to welcoming our new colleagues to XPS.  We have been admirers of the APR business for some time, with its strong culture, its highly talented people and its deep relationships in the insurance market.

With this transaction, XPS will have doubled our total addressable market to £6bn+ in the space of less than two years, through strategic acquisitions and senior recruitment. We are very excited about what the future holds as we become a broader financial services firm providing outstanding client service to pension schemes and insurers alike." 

⁽¹⁾        From unaudited management accounts

Roger Austin, Founding Partner of APR, said:

"Since founding APR 20 years ago, we have been guided by our purpose: nurturing our talented people and delighting our clients.  Recruiting great people and investing in their development has enabled us to continually build trust and delight our clients, the keys to growing our market share.

When looking at potential strategic partners, we focused on two key factors: cultural fit, and clear strategic growth opportunities. We believe that XPS is a great match against both and are delighted with our new home.  We are excited about the opportunity to jointly deliver a much more comprehensive service to the insurance sector."

-Ends-

For further information, contact:

XPS Group
Snehal Shah Chief Financial Officer	[phone] / [e-mail]
Canaccord Genuity (Joint Broker)	[phone]
Adam James
George Grainger
Deutsche Bank (Joint Broker)	[phone]
Stuart Skinner
Kevin Cruickshank
Media Enquiries:
Camarco
Geoffrey Pelham-Lane	[phone]; [e-mail]
Rosie Driscoll Phoebe Pugh

Notes to Editors:

XPS Group is a leading consulting and administration business focused on UK pension schemes and insurers. XPS combines expertise, insight and technology to address the needs of over 1,300 pension schemes and their sponsoring employers on an ongoing and project basis, also providing advice and administration to UK insurance companies. We undertake pensions administration for c. 1.2 million members and provide advisory services to schemes and corporate sponsors in respect of schemes of all sizes, including 83 with assets over £1bn.

APR is a specialist provider of actuarial consulting and secondment services, with over 70 actuarial professional staff supporting flexible and scalable delivery. The firm has partnered with around 45 insurers, consultancies and financial sector clients across the UK, Ireland and mainland Europe including the majority of the top 10 UK insurers, earning a reputation for quality delivery and high calibre staff.

 

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