M&A has been happening at a swift pace of late in the promotional products industry – and the deals are occurring internationally, too.

SF Taylor, a Stockport, U.K.-headquartered print manufacturer and print management services company, has acquired Branding365, a promo products distributor also based in Stockport, Greater Manchester. Terms of the deal were not released.

“This is a fantastic opportunity for SF Taylor to offer our customers an even wider array of services, adding to our capabilities to provide more choice and more value,” said Simon Young, managing director of SF Taylor. “This all contributes to ensuring SF Taylor remains the partner of choice for our customers.”

Branding365’s Louise Schofield has joined SF Taylor, and the promo distributor is now operating out of SF Taylor’s location. Branding365 will maintain its branding in the short term, but is now a division of SF Taylor and could ultimately go to market under that banner.

“This is an exciting time for Branding365, to see the company continue to develop and further increase our share of the marketplace,” Schofield told Printweek.

There was a flurry of #acquisitions in the #promoproducts industry in 2022 and the first couple weeks of 2023. What's driving all the deals? Will they continue? https://t.co/1FNsrxMGrD @asicentral @Tim_Andrews_ASI @ASI_MBell

— Chris Ruvo (@ChrisR_ASI) January 17, 2023

Founded in 1926, SF Taylor is a leading supplier of print solutions to the United Kingdom’s National Health Service (NHS), though it serves a variety of other clients in the private and public sectors, too. Branding365 has been in business for more than 30 years.

Back on this side of the Atlantic, mergers and acquisitions have come at a quick clip in the North American promotional products industry in early 2023.

It’s a phenomenon that continued a trend from 2022 and that was driven by a variety of factors, including strong industry sales last year, an aging population of owners ready to exit their companies, the presence of more private equity money in promo, and a desire to gain the capital clout/resources necessary to better compete and scale at a time when doing business has gotten more expensive, executives say.

In another recent deal, Top 40 distributor Stran & Company (asi/337725) announced late last week that it has signed an agreement to acquire T.R. Miller Co. Inc. (asi/272250) – a branded merchandise provider that generated fiscal-year 2022 revenue of about $19 million, executives said. The acquisition is expected to close in the first half of 2023.