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Alice and Dan discuss a historic yarn manufacturer becoming employee owned, a deal for two major skyscrapers in Manchester, news from a luxury cruise retailer and the acquisition of a 100-strong engineering consultancy.

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00:00A historic yarn manufacturer becoming employee owned, a pair of skyscrapers being acquired

00:05in Manchester, news from a luxury cruise retailer and the acquisition of 100 strong engineering

00:10consultancy all featured in today's business briefing.

00:15Morning Alice, morning Dan you okay? I'm good thank you. So what's caught your eye today?

00:24So one of the stories I've seen this morning is about a luxury cruise retailer which was

00:28established just four years ago in Lancashire and is now looking to upsize its US base.

00:33Now that's only four months after it actually launched there and as a result of that the

00:37business is now pushing to reach 100 million pounds in turnover in just three to four years.

00:43So James Cole founded Panache Cruises in 2020, the business is actually headquartered in

00:48Charlie and it launched its Orlando office back in June and in the first four months

00:54after it launched it, it generated sales of three million dollars so saw obviously

00:59rapid growth in the US. As a result of that it's looking to get a larger space and also

01:04recruit 50% more staff in the country. So James recently spoke to Insiders Remy Greasley

01:10about the business and its growth plans and one of the things he touched on is its business

01:15plan which is kind of interesting. He said that he's targeting people who aren't necessarily

01:20looking to kind of book a cruise there and then, he more wants to speak to people who

01:24are interested in the idea of cruising. That means he said that when they are ready to

01:30book a cruise, whether that be like a few months or even a year down the line, the first

01:34company he will think of is Panache. James also revealed one of his favourite statistics

01:40which is that the business's top 40 customers have in total booked nearly 400 cruises with

01:48the company. So obviously very dedicated customers there. So that was actually a really

01:54interesting chat and you can read the full feature on our website between Remy and James

01:59where he spoke about lots of other things as well as how they're looking to kind of

02:03reach their turnover goals. That does sound like a very interesting article, be sure to

02:07check it out on our website. So I've got a deal in Yorkshire, a historic yarn manufacturer,

02:12Laxton Specialist Yarns has become an employee-owned business. So they're headquartered in Basildon

02:17and they were founded in 1907, so quite historic, by George Laxton and they supply yarns across

02:22the UK as well as to markets overseas. Another interesting fact is the company welcomed Princess

02:28Anne to their factory back in February. So James Laxton, the fourth generation owner

02:33and his family have passed on full control of the business to its workforce thanks to

02:38the creation of an employee ownership trust. They said the move will drive the business

02:42forward and obviously retain their culture in the long term by putting all 30 employees

02:46at the heart of decision making. The move to employee ownership has become quite a popular

02:51trend as well, we've heard a lot of stories on that. Big names like John Lewis are employee-owned

02:55as well. But I understand you've got a deal as well. I do, yes. So a 100 strong civil

03:01and structural engineering consultancy, which has sites across the south of England and

03:07also in Wales, has been acquired by the Built Environment Consultancy Ridge. So JUB, that's

03:13the company that's been acquired, provides services such as ground engineering and environmental

03:19planning from its offices in Bristol, Winchester, Plymouth and in Cardiff. Now the acquisition

03:25will enhance Ridge's service offerings and also support its strong growth. So in recent

03:30years it has been expanding quite quickly. At the minute its turnover stands at more

03:35than £140 million. That's more than 50% more than it was in 2022, so obviously it's

03:43had a really strong few years and this acquisition will help that grow even further. Adrian O'Hickey,

03:49who's a senior partner at the business, said that one of the reasons it was looking

03:53to acquire it was because its values and visions are well-aligned. That's some really impressive

04:00progress there. Moving away from deals, I'll finish up on a property story. A pair of skyscrapers

04:06currently in the development in Manchester have been acquired as part of a £500 million

04:10deal. They've been acquired by Starlight Investments from the developer Renica. The

04:15first property is a 60-storey, 532-suite residential tower under construction in Castlefield just

04:20on the bank of the River Irwell. It'll include a range of apartments and a pool and a gym,

04:25so it sounds quite fancy. It's 60 storeys as well. Yeah, huge. And the second property

04:30is a 40-storey, so a bit smaller, but pretty big. Still massive. Yeah, a big tower in the

04:34Greengate neighbourhood with a rooftop terrace and a gym as well. Starlight have also acquired

04:39a major apartment block in Basildon to complete a trio of property acquisitions. To find out

04:44more about the stories we've discussed today, check out our website, insidermedia.com, where

04:48you can subscribe to our magazines and find out about upcoming events. Thank you for watching.

Watch: Insider's Business Briefing - 22nd November

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