Ben and Dan discuss a major appointment at a theme park giant, a significant property investment in Oxford, and the acquisition of a hotel in Belfast.
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00:00A major appointment at a theme park giant, a tech company and talks with potential investors
00:05and a significant investment in Oxford, all featured in today's business briefing.
00:09Morning Ben. Morning. So you've got quite an interesting appointment story. Yes, I have.
00:19So a prominent businesswoman has been appointed as the chief executive of a pool-based theme
00:24park giant which owns Legoland and Alton Towers. Can you name the company, Dan?
00:30Alton Towers, I think they're owned by Merlin, is it? Yes, that's right, a big name. So Fiona
00:34Eastwood, she's been leading Merlin Entertainments as the interim CEO since November and now she's
00:41been hired permanently to the role as of Monday and she replaces Scott O'Neill who left Merlin
00:48at the end of last year to take an undisclosed role elsewhere after just two years in the job
00:53and she's enjoyed a decade of working with Merlin and she's had this to say,
00:58my aim is to lead this business to new heights with a focus on performance,
01:03operational excellence and creating memorable guest experiences and she goes on to say that
01:082025 is going to be an exciting year for Merlin. So they're going to have their first Peppa Pig
01:13theme park opening in Dallas, so US expansion there and also Legoland Shanghai which is coming
01:19later in the year, so Asia as well, and more exciting new projects beyond that as well and
01:25she adds, I remain focused on bringing our global attractions together into one united business,
01:30a business built for ongoing success and sustainable growth. So yeah, exciting news
01:35there for Merlin and a big appointment. Could be a great news for theme park lovers.
01:40Yes, definitely. I do enjoy a rollercoaster ride, I've been to Alton Towers a couple of times and
01:46I've been to Blackpool Pleasure Beach as well and they aren't too far away from
01:51Leeds. I know, I went to Alton Towers in the summer as well. I've not been to Blackpool yet
01:55though, it'll be the next one to check out. What's your favourite ride at Alton Towers?
01:59Probably the Smiler, it was brilliant. What about you? Oblivion for me. I enjoyed that,
02:03but it was over too quickly. It is over very quickly. Especially if you're in a queue for a
02:06long time. So I've got some news from Oxford, so Grainger have launched a £68m scheme in Oxford
02:14which will see 150 new homes delivered in the city. Fantastic. The Kimridge is an eight-storey
02:19apartment building and also features a gym, a residence lounge and co-working spaces.
02:24And the investment from Grainger marks a total investment of more than £162m into the Oxford
02:29Cambridge Arc, which is particularly relevant at the moment. We've actually covered quite a few
02:33stories on this. The government recently pledged to revive plans into the Arc. It's a key growth
02:39area. That's how they see it. They've said they're aiming to double the economic output
02:44within the region and to support transport links between Oxford and Cambridge. Also looking to
02:51boost the housing in those areas, so it's particularly relevant here. Grainger themselves
02:55described Oxford as a key target for investment due to its transport links and rapidly growing
03:00economy. They're also expecting the development to bring a lot of jobs, a lot of other economic
03:05benefits into the city and the Thames Valley. Really good news for the area. It is and obviously
03:11my flat's actually a Grainger flat, so I'm sure it's a very nice apartment, no complaints from me.
03:16Great. You've got a story from Wales, right? Yes, so it's an insurance technology company. It's
03:23hoping to recruit 75 additional staff in the South Wales Valleys and it's part of Ambitious
03:28Growth Plans. So the business is called PH Innovate Group, which is based near Pontypool
03:34and the co-founder David Harlow was told inside that the group had talked to potential
03:39external investors to speed up its growth and he said we're talking to Cardiff Capital Region
03:45about helping us create around 75 extra jobs. So these potential new jobs, they could include
03:51underwriters, data analysts, developers, managers and also call centre operators.
03:57And Harlow added about 25 of them will be professional jobs for which you'd need to
04:02have experience. So if you want to catch more of this, Harlow and fellow co-founder Stephen Peck,
04:08they are interviewed in the February-March 2025 edition of Wales Business Insider Magazine,
04:13where you can read the full interview. I'm sure that'll be a very interesting feature,
04:17so make sure to see that and always great to see jobs created. Yes, always. But just to finish up
04:22here, I've got a story from Ireland actually. Fantastic. So Andras House, the hotel and
04:27leisure group, sorry Andras House, has acquired a travel lodge on Brunswick Street in Belfast
04:31for almost nine million pounds. Hotel stories always go down well with our readers. They do,
04:36they're always very popular. So Andras House was established in 1981 and the business has
04:41an extensive portfolio of office, hotel and leisure developments. And a bit of history
04:46about the hotel, it was originally built by Andras House in 1991 and it operated as the Belfast
04:53Plaza and then as a holiday inn before it was bought by Travelodge in the mid-90s.
04:58Quite a colourful history, don't you think? Yeah, definitely. So Andras purchased the 90-room hotel
05:03from Tifco Hotel Group and the deal was supported by Danske Bank. So they're now planning to
05:09significantly invest in the refurbishment of the property, which is located in the heart of the
05:14city centre. So I imagine you know, very popular with tourists. No, it's good news for Belfast and
05:19a potential new hotel destination for visitors as well. Yeah, interesting to see how it looks
05:24after the refurbishment. Yes, definitely, to keep an eye on it. Yep, well that's all we've got time for today.
05:29To find out more about these stories, please visit InsidingMedia.com,
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