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Alice and Robyn discuss a new director at an iconic French fashion house, growth at a sustainable babycare brand and strong results for a prominent tech company.

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00:00A new director at an iconic French fashion house, strong results for an LDC-backed company,

00:06and growth at a sustainable baby care brand.

00:08That's all coming up on today's Insider Business Briefing.

00:11Hi, I'm Robin Houston.

00:18And I'm Alice Bird.

00:19And welcome to today's briefing.

00:21So Alice, what's your top story today?

00:22Well, we've got some really big news from the fashion industry, actually.

00:27So a designer who was born and raised in the Northwest has been appointed as creative

00:31director for the iconic French fashion house Givenchy.

00:34Oh, wow.

00:35Givenchy.

00:36That's probably how you say it.

00:39So Sarah Burton will be responsible for all creative direction at the fashion house's

00:44men's and women's collections.

00:46And she will present her first one next year.

00:50So Burton was actually born in Macclesfield.

00:51She was educated in Manchester, and then she moved to London to study fashion.

00:56And she's had a really successful career.

00:58She's actually a former creative director at Alexander McQueen.

01:01And fun fact, Lee Alexander McQueen is also a former creative director of Givenchy.

01:06Oh, wow.

01:07Full circle.

01:08Yeah.

01:09It really is.

01:10But Burton, a lot of people may know her as the designer of Catherine, the Princess of

01:15Wales' wedding dress in 2011.

01:16I thought I recognised the name.

01:18Yeah.

01:19Yeah.

01:20I remember, like, we were quite young when they got married, but that was a really big

01:22deal.

01:23Yeah, it was such a huge event.

01:24I feel like her name was absolutely everywhere at that point.

01:26It really was.

01:27I remember seeing an article, and it was like, this is who's going to design it.

01:28Yeah.

01:29And she did a really good job.

01:30Definitely.

01:31So Sarah called the appointment a great honour.

01:34She also said that the fashion house is a jewel.

01:36So that's a really nice, nice moment for her.

01:39Exciting.

01:40Well, staying in the Northwest, we are just working on the October issue of the magazine

01:44at the moment, which will be out very soon.

01:46And one story that I think is quite exciting from this issue is about Pura, the sustainable

01:52baby care brand.

01:53So again, Cheshire based, actually.

01:56And they've had incredible growth.

01:57They were formed in 2020 and have already grown to be, like, multi-million turnover.

02:02They are in 1,000 stores across America, so really exciting, fast growth brand.

02:08But they're also really keen to kind of stay true to the sustainability purpose.

02:13So one interesting thing that they're doing is they are doing a recycling scheme across

02:17Wales and Bristol, where they get old nappies and turn them into asphalt, which is then

02:22used to create roads.

02:23That's so cool.

02:24Yeah.

02:25So a really, like, unique way to stop nappies from going to landfill.

02:28And I actually spoke to a guy, and we've done a little video interview where he goes into

02:33more detail about that.

02:34So that's on the Insider website if anyone's interested in hearing more.

02:37Yeah.

02:38I actually might watch that.

02:39You might.

02:40I will watch it.

02:41You should too.

02:42Well, we're staying in the North, but we've moved to the Northeast to Gateshead because

02:49Aspire Technology Solutions, they're backed by LDC, has reported some new financial accounts,

02:54which showed that revenue closed in on 40 million pounds.

03:00So LDC backed the company in 2022.

03:03Since then, they've gone from strength to strength.

03:05Their headcount stands now at, I think it's about 280 people, and they've grown a lot.

03:11In the most recent financial year, which ended in February, EBITDA also grew to 5.6 million

03:17pounds.

03:19They said that the increase was driven primarily by organic growth, but the business has also

03:24made an acquisition.

03:25It snapped up CloudCover IT, which has contributed a little bit to this year's revenue.

03:30But they've said the main impact of that deal will be seen in the next financial year.

03:35That will be reported this time next year.

03:37Exciting.

03:38Chief Executive Chris Fraser said he's very confident for the future.

03:41He said they've got lots of strategic initiatives in the works which are going to drive further

03:45growth.

03:46So it's nice to see that they're doing really well.

03:48Yeah, definitely.

03:49And then a final story from us today over in the West Midlands.

03:53So a team from the West Midlands has said that they will be returning to UK Reef 2025.

03:58So UK Reef is the property infrastructure conference that goes on in Leeds.

04:03It's starting to rival Mippin and things like that, I would say, as a really key moment

04:07in the property calendar.

04:09And it's also delivered a 20.9 million economic boost for Leeds and West Yorkshire last year.

04:17So yeah, massive conference and should be lots of exciting names going along again.

04:22I went to it last year and the year before, and you can kind of see the growth even in

04:26that time.

04:27It was absolutely enormous this year.

04:30So yeah, should be an exciting one to go to.

04:32Exactly.

04:33It's nice for Leeds as well, isn't it?

04:34Because you get a lot of these conferences in London, places in the south, so it's good

04:38to see that.

04:39Yeah, definitely.

04:40Well, it was actually a bit of a toss up this year, so it could have gone to Birmingham,

04:43Liverpool, Manchester, I think it was, but Leeds has kind of clung on to it for now.

04:47But it will be interesting to see in the future if it does travel around a bit and kind of

04:51spread that economic impact around the north.

04:54Well, if you want to read more about that story or any of the stories that we've discussed

04:57today, you can go to insidermedia.com.

04:59While you're there, you can subscribe to our daily newsletters and of course our magazines.

05:04I think that's everything from us.

05:06Yeah, that's everything from us today.

Watch: Insider's Business Briefing - 10th September

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