Watch: Insider's Business Briefing - 15th August - video Dailymotion

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Alice and Stephen discuss a significant letting in Birmingham, hundreds of homes in Bristol and a multi billion-dollar deal between two major food businesses.

Transcript

00:00A major office setting in Birmingham, hundreds of homes in Bristol and a multi-billion dollar

00:04deal featuring today's business briefing.

00:12I'm Stephen Farrell.

00:13And I'm Alice Bird.

00:14And we're starting off today in Birmingham where we've had a huge office setting announced.

00:20Global Banking School has agreed a deal for almost 70,000 square foot at the one Brindley

00:24Place building.

00:26So the school, the higher education provider currently operates 10 campuses across the

00:30UK in London, Birmingham, Leeds and Manchester.

00:34This will in fact be its third campus in Birmingham.

00:37Altogether it has about 30,000 students, offers a range of courses in areas like business,

00:43finance, accounting, as well as tourism, healthcare and construction.

00:48Now one Brindley Place itself actually has quite an interesting history.

00:50It was built in 1994.

00:53Among its past occupiers you had Vodafone, Deutsche Bank and the Commonwealth Games Organising

01:00Committee from the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

01:03So yeah, great to see that building's got a new owner, got a new occupier.

01:08Yeah, it's nice to see those really big kind of lettings coming back.

01:11I think after Covid there just was a lack of them.

01:15Yes, it was much quieter.

01:16Now we're seeing like actually huge ones, which are really good.

01:20I also have a property story to discuss.

01:22This one's from Belway Strategic Land, which has submitted plans for a sustainable new

01:27community in Bristol.

01:29So the scheme is for up to 555 homes on a 40-acre site next to Brislington Park and

01:35Ride.

01:36The application is a big one, but it won't come as a huge surprise to the local community

01:41because it was actually submitted following consultation with the public.

01:46So they've had their say and it's been designed around them, which is always nice.

01:50This is also an outline application, so not every detail has been revealed, but Belway

01:55have said that it will be a mix of one and two bedroom apartments and four and five bedroom

02:00homes.

02:01They're also quite keen to kind of focus on the eco-friendly elements of this scheme.

02:07So 40% of the site is planned for green open space, and that's going to provide new habitats

02:13and wetlands for wildlife.

02:15Obviously with that many homes, you also need some amenities.

02:19So a shop and community space is planned, as well as a children's play area.

02:25So moving over to the Northwest, a fourth generation family cheese maker has posted

02:30a strong set of results, which featured increased turnover and profits.

02:35So Butler's Farmhouse Cheeses is their company in question, and they were actually established

02:40in 1932 in rural Lancashire, and its flagship brand is Blacksticks.

02:46We did discuss this story in our team and it had quite a lot of interest, so it seems

02:50like quite a popular brand for those who like cheese.

02:53So in its most recent financial year, which ended in September, 2023, turnover rose by

02:5911% to 20.3 million pounds.

03:03Pre-tax profit also climbed to just over 953,000 pounds.

03:09Seems like they're looking to grow further as well, because post year-end they acquired

03:13the Hampshire Cheese Company.

03:15Now they're a soft cheese business, their brands are Turnworth and Winslade, and Butler's

03:22following that acquisition is now actually the largest independent soft cheese maker

03:25in the UK.

03:26Wow, yeah, you still are.

03:29So have you got a go-to cheese, Alice, in favourites?

03:32I feel like I have a lot.

03:34I do like cheese, but probably brie, like especially in the summer when you have brie

03:40on bread.

03:41It's a good option.

03:42That's a good option, yeah.

03:43What's yours?

03:44Well, I'm a Yorkshireman and a Wallace & Glomit fan, so I'm going to say Wensleydale.

03:47Yeah, that makes sense.

03:49Sticking with food for our last story, we've got an absolutely massive deal that's been

03:53announced.

03:54Mars, the food group behind obviously Mars, and Snickers, M&M's, bands like that, has

04:00agreed a $35.9 billion deal to acquire Kelanova, which is the group behind Kellogg's international

04:07business as well as Pop-Tarts and Pringles.

04:10So the Kelanova business can trace its history back more than 100 years, had global sales

04:16of $13 billion last year.

04:19It also has operations in 180 countries worldwide and employs about 23,000 employees.

04:27Mars has said that the group is going to complement its existing snacking business.

04:33It's also pledged to preserve the heritage and innovation of the Kelanova brand.

04:37It's obviously a major deal.

04:40Not sure when exactly it's going to complete just yet, but one that's bound to be updates

04:43on as the year goes ahead.

04:45So I want to keep an eye on.

04:46Yeah, that is absolutely huge, that deal.

04:49Combining those brands as well is a massive thing.

04:52Surely that's going to be one of the biggest of the year, I imagine.

04:54Yes, I would have said.

04:55I think that's fairly safe.

04:56Yeah, I feel like most of the companies just kind of don't have that much money to do that.

05:02But if you do want to read more information on that story, and obviously, as Stephen said,

05:06we will be updating that, I imagine.

05:08You can find that on insidermedia.com, there you can find all of the stories we've discussed

05:12today and you can also subscribe to our daily newsletters and, of course, our magazines.

05:17I think that's everything from us today.

05:19Yeah, I think so.

05:20Thanks for watching.

05:21Goodbye.

05:26Bye.

Watch: Insider's Business Briefing - 15th August

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