WHAT WE DO
THE FIRM
We Buy Exceptional Companies And Grow Them for the Long Term
WHAT MAKES US UNIQUE
THE FIRST 90 DAYS
A safe pair of hands, not a hatchet
Stabilise first
Understand the management structure and secure the key people before changing anything.
Get visibility early
Stand up a simple performance dashboard so decisions are based on facts, not noise.
Full operational review
People, customers, systems and finances — reviewed properly before any lever is pulled.
Communicate clearly
With the team and with customers, so the transition feels like continuity, not upheaval.
Separate quick wins from deep change
Easy improvements go fast; anything structural becomes a properly planned change programme.
FROM CONSULTANCY TO OWNERSHIp
The same work, on the other side of the table
Then
Consultancy
THE SHIFT
Advisory at the top table
Now
Permanent ownership
TECHNOLOGY & INTEGRATION
The sharpest edge
Integrating systems and organisations is core to the acquisition strategy - and Scott has done it at both large and small scale.
Hands-on delivery, not strategy decks
ERP, CRM, HR, estimating and workflow systems implemented across almost every industry he has worked in.
Credible and current on AI adoption
Clear on where it genuinely creates leverage in an SME — and where it is hype.
Direct CIO advisory relationships
Trusted across multiple organisations on technology strategy and delivery.
Scaling delivery without breaking the economics
Built the resourcing and forecasting model for a 2,500-strong field engineering force — weather, truck location, customer history and engineer skill set, all at once.
Technological Integration at scale
3,500 systems and 40,000 people merged into a single operating business - the world's largest clinical research organisation.
BEYOND THE CHEQUE
What comes with the capital
Governance, controls and KPIs
Most SMEs are run on instinct. The firm installs the reporting, controls and operating rhythm that make a business scalable — and, in time, sellable.
A people-first operator
Twenty years spent building and growing teams, backed by a formal grounding in performance coaching. To a seller their team is family — the intention is to protect what works, not replace it.
Breadth over narrow depth
Twenty years across telecoms, utilities, construction, food, pensions, insurance, banking, water and clinical research. The edge is spotting the patterns that hold true whatever the sector.
Prior experience of this exact business is not the requirement.
Some buyers bring deep single-sector knowledge. New Mills brings the best of what works from across all of them — and, more importantly, knows how to implement it.
Acquisition Criteria
What New Mills is looking for
Established
20+ years of continuous trading — a business that has already proven it survives downturns
Healthy Profits
EBITDA of £0.5M - £1M
Management In Place
An ambitious team with a positive culture and an ethical approach
Strong Cash Conversion
Recurring, contracted revenue that converts to cash
Recession-Proof
Demand that holds through the cycle, not with it
Limited Concentration
Customer concentration <25%; supplier concentration <40%
Asset-Backed
Tangible assets, ideally including owned premises
Motivated Seller
A genuine reason to sell — retirement being the most common
Location
Ideally within two hours of Edinburgh; willing to acquire UK-wide
The Thinking Behind Them
Why these criteria, and not others
01
Management in place is the linchpin
The firm runs as an investor-owner. A capable management team in place is therefore non-negotiable — it is what allows every other criterion to do its job.
02
Earnings that hold through a cycle
Recurring contracted revenue, a diverse customer base and a recession-proof model are what make forecast earnings believable rather than hopeful.
03
20+ years is a proxy for resilience
A business that has traded for two decades or more has already been tested by recessions, rate cycles and shocks. That history is evidence no financial model can substitute for.
04
Asset-backed works for the seller too
Owned premises and machinery are a significant advantage. The buyer controls the site the business operates from and the equipment it runs on — the two things hardest to replace and most damaging to lose.
A NOTE FOR BROKERS
The criteria above are all that is needed to start scoring deals. Where a business meets most but not all of them, bring it anyway — the shortfall is a structuring question, not an automatic no.
WHY OWNERS SELL TO US
A decision about a life’s work, not a process
A name, not a recruitment plan
We are frequently the only bidder who can answer “who is actually going to run this on Monday?” with a name and a face.
Our own capital
We write our own equity checks and we close on the terms we opened with. No syndication risk, no fund timetable, no borrowed conviction.
No eleventh-hour renegotiation
We do not renegotiate on the eve of completion because a credit committee got nervous. The price we agree is the price we pay.
Sellers are choosing a successor, not just a price. That is the question we are built to answer.
GET IN TOUCH
Actively acquiring, and ready to move.
Founder & Managing Director
Scott MacDonald
Founder & Managing Director, New Mills Scotland Limited
Edinburgh, Scotland
scott.macdonald@newmillsholdings.com
ORIGINATION & DEAL ENQUIRIES
Charlie Ellis
Acquisition Advisory Limited