THE DEAL INTELLIGENCE BRIEF · ISSUE 6 · JUNE 2026
A monthly view of human capital risk and value creation for private equity, built on Deltabase culture, workforce and talent data covering 5,500+ companies and 11M employee reviews.
June's theme is wellbeing and work-life balance, and Engineering & Construction is where the pressure is building. UK construction activity contracted at its fastest pace in six years, sponsors kept trading engineering and consultancy platforms, and Strabag moved to buy Van Elle. Our data shows sentiment across the sector's largest employers already falling. For deal teams, wellbeing in this sector is now a value question, not a welfare one.
Lucie Odell, Deltabase
What happened: The S&P Global UK Construction PMI, published on 5 June, fell to 38.2 in May from 39.7 in April. It was the seventeenth month below 50 and the steepest contraction since May 2020, with employment falling as completed projects were not replaced by new orders.
The Deltabase lens: Sentiment was already sliding. The median Employee NSS across ten Engineering & Construction Top 100 companies fell from −5.1% in 2024 to −12.3% in 2025, and seven of the ten declined.
So what: Downturns bring workload swings and job insecurity, both of which hit wellbeing. Check Work-Life Balance and Supportive Leadership before underwriting a recovery case.
What happened: Zweig Group's June deal tracker recorded Leonard Green & Partners acquiring project and construction management firm Cumming Group from New Mountain Capital on 16 June, and London-based TPA Capital entering a strategic partnership with Godalming construction consultancy Lysander on 11 June.
The Deltabase lens: Consultancy-led businesses score lowest in our E&C peer set. Turner & Townsend fell from −19.1% to −24.7% in 2025, Mace fell from −6.2% to −16.2%, and Arup was little changed at −23.1%.
So what: Project and cost management platforms are people businesses. In sponsor-to-sponsor deals, the incoming owner inherits the culture trend as well as the client book.
What happened: On 17 June, DWF confirmed it had advised Strabag UK on its £58.8m recommended acquisition of Van Elle Holdings, described as the UK's largest specialist geotechnical engineering contractor, and on the separate acquisition of Cambridge-based Crofton Engineering.
The Deltabase lens: Contractor culture varies widely. Kier's Employee NSS rose from +6.4% to +11.2% in 2025, while Balfour Beatty's fell from −6.5% to −11.2%.
So what: Consolidation in specialist contracting depends on integrating site-based teams. Buyers who understand the target's wellbeing and leadership scores can plan that integration with fewer surprises.
−12.3%: the median Employee NSS across ten Engineering & Construction Top 100 companies in 2025, down from −5.1% in 2024. Only three of the ten improved.
| Company | 2024 | 2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kier Group | +6.4% | +11.2% | +4.8 pts |
| Vinci | +4.6% | +4.5% | −0.1 pts |
| Babcock International | +8.6% | +0.4% | −8.3 pts |
| Mitie Group | +8.7% | −13.4% | −22.1 pts |
| Turner & Townsend | −19.1% | −24.7% | −5.7 pts |
| Sector median (10 companies) | −5.1% | −12.3% | −7.2 pts |
Source: Deltabase Culture data, Employee Net Sentiment Score (−100% to +100%), 2024–2025. Sector median across Amey, Arcadis, Arup Group, Babcock International, Balfour Beatty, Kier Group, Mace Group, Mitie Group, Turner & Townsend and Vinci.
Two UK names moved in opposite directions in 2025. Kier's overall score rose from +6.4% to +11.2%; Mitie's fell 22.1 pts, from +8.7% to −13.4%, the steepest drop in the peer set. Supportive Leadership explains much of the gap: Kier moved from −16.0% to +5.0%, Mitie from −1.3% to −31.7%, and Mitie's Empowered score fell 31.7 pts to −51.7%. Work-Life Balance runs the other way: Kier slipped 8.3 pts to +3.5%, while Mitie improved 6.1 pts but remains negative at −15.5%.
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Sources: Specification Online (5 June 2026); Zweig Group (18 June 2026); DWF (17 June 2026); Deltabase Culture data.