January 2026

Signs Express brought its nationwide network together at the magical Alton Towers Resort on Friday 16 January for its 2026 Convention, celebrating a strong year of performance, recognising outstanding achievement, and setting a clear, ambitious direction for the future of the brand.

With 42 centres represented on the day, 25 exhibitors supporting the event and more than 150 attendees, the convention demonstrated the scale, passion for the industry and collective commitment of the Signs Express network. The day provided an opportunity to reflect on the successes of 2025 while reinforcing the brand’s confidence and long-term growth ambitions.

Celebrating performance and resilience

The morning plenary focused on celebrating success across the network, recognising strong sales growth across multiple centres, promotions within franchise groups, notable sales office performances, and welcoming new franchisees into the Signs Express family. Despite a challenging economic backdrop, the network demonstrated resilience throughout 2025, with positive momentum building in the second half of the year.

A key update focused on Signs Express’ evolving brand marketing strategy, with a shift towards a more content-led, brand-driven approach centred on storytelling and video. This delivered strong results in 2025, including increased visibility and engagement and a year-on-year uplift of enquiries. The results reinforced confidence in the marketing direction and highlighted the important role local centres play in amplifying the national brand.

A franchise model built for the future

Franchise recruitment and long-term sustainability were key themes of the day. Despite being an established brand with over 60 locations across the UK and Ireland, the convention highlighted that Signs Express businesses remain highly attractive and saleable, with multiple new franchisees welcomed during 2025. This was supported by strong demand for resales, their first successful rebrand, franchise renewals, and continued new franchisee onboarding.

The introduction of new rebrand and conversion models further demonstrated how the franchise is futureproofing network growth, while collaboration across the network was emphasised as a critical factor in maintaining momentum and protecting long-term value.

Looking ahead, four strategic priorities for 2026 were outlined: expansion through new franchise models, enquiry growth driven by targeted growth campaigns, continued systemisation through the rollout of leading system CoreBridge, and the use of data-driven insight to support better business decisions.

The continued rollout of CoreBridge was positioned as the network’s single largest investment for the year, with a further twelve centres scheduled to onboard by the end of 2026. More than a system replacement, CoreBridge underpins future initiatives across automation, training, digital tools, and data insights. Alongside the newly developed Insight Portal, it will provide a significant competitive advantage through improved benchmarking and performance analysis.

Insight-led discussion and supplier collaboration

The convention featured three expert-led panel sessions covering laser cutting, sustainability, and outsourcing versus in-house production. Each session focused on practical, commercial decision-making and featured a mix of industry experts and experienced Signs Express franchisees, reinforcing the strength of knowledge and collaboration within the network.

Enhanced exhibitor engagement ran throughout the day, including quick-fire introductions, meaningful networking opportunities, and expert discussion, before concluding with the Signs Express Gala Dinner and Awards.

Recognising excellence and giving back

The evening celebrated outstanding achievement across the network, with awards recognising excellence in sustainability, design, signage projects, vehicle graphics, supplier partnerships, and individual and team performance. The event also raised £1,630 for Annabelle’s Challenge, supporting vital research and awareness for Vascular Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome.

Looking ahead

As the convention closed, Signs Express reaffirmed its commitment to continued growth, improved profitability, and long-term success across the network. With a proven business model, strong marketing support, ongoing investment in systems and data, and a collaborative culture, Signs Express is actively looking for talented, driven individuals to join the franchise network throughout the year.

For those seeking to build a scalable, supported business within a well-established brand, the Signs Express 2026 Convention demonstrated why the network continues to go from strength to strength, and why now is an exciting time to become part of it.

For more information, please get in touch with Head of Franchise Recruitment, Emma Wakefield – we’d love to hear from you.