Ruth Percival, who spent two decades in mergers and acquisitions, has converted a late career pivot into rapid commercial expansion: two years after launching consultancy Contollo Group she has taken the business to a reported £37m in turnover and a workforce of 230, having completed five acquisitions.
From adviser to consolidator
Percival’s background was in corporate finance and dealmaking, where she established a reputation in buy‑and‑build strategies. She rose to become the first woman to hold an M&A partner role at BDO and subsequently worked on large integrations, including a spell as chief integration officer at Fishawack Group of Companies where she led a team of 150.
Her move into entrepreneurship in her 50s — an increasingly visible pathway in the UK economy — saw Contollo pursue an acquisitive growth model. Sources say the company has already made five purchases and is targeting a further doubling of size, indicating a highly ambitious scale‑up trajectory.
“It’s my favourite (job) so far,” she told The Naked Founder podcast, adding that the role forces her to “stretch” in new ways.
What the numbers mean for jobs and competition
At face value, rising to £37m turnover and employing 230 people in 24 months is a material contribution to employment and professional services capacity. Rapid consolidation via acquisitions can create roles in integration, operations and delivery, but it also concentrates market power — something smaller independent consultancies may feel as the sector budgets for advisory services are increasingly won by larger groups.
For employees, the move from established corporate employer to founder‑led scale‑up brings different risks and rewards. The expansion trajectory suggests potential opportunities for promotion and professional development, but a high growth strategy dependent on acquisitions also raises execution risk around integration, cultural fit and client retention.
- Turnover: £37m reported for Contollo Group
- Staff: 230 employees
- Acquisitions: five in two years
- Ambition: plans to double in size
Gender, culture and investor relationships
Percival has spoken publicly about encountering misogyny in corporate finance and has described advice she received early in her career to moderate her personality to navigate that environment. That anecdote underscores continuing cultural frictions within the city and professional services even as more women reach senior roles.
She has also reflected on investor interactions, saying she regretted not asking for more capital at the outset — a commonplace refrain among founders who later scale quickly. How a company finances its growth matters: acquisitive models typically require a mix of equity, debt and seller financing. Securing sufficient capital early can smooth expansion but dilutes ownership; taking too little can constrain strategic options and create costly financing rounds later.
| Metric | Reported figure |
|---|---|
| Turnover | £37m |
| Employees | 230 |
| Acquisitions | 5 |
| Timeframe | 2 years since founding |
Her public account offers lessons for other late‑career founders: strong sector knowledge and deal experience can accelerate growth, but founders frequently under‑estimate early capital requirements. That miscalculation can force tougher choices later on — a risk that employees and suppliers ultimately share.
Contollo’s strategy sits within a broader trend of consolidation in professional services, where buyers with integration expertise can extract synergies and expand market share quickly. The question for the market now is whether such rapid consolidation delivers stable jobs and consistent client service as the group doubles in size, or whether execution stresses create turbulence.
Whatever the outcome, the story is a reminder that entrepreneurship is not confined to the young: mid‑career executives can translate corporate skills into high‑growth businesses, reshaping employment and competition in their sectors while also exposing the trade‑offs inherent in acquisitive scaling.
