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Robyn and Laurence discuss a milestone for a new office in Manchester, profit warnings on the rise in the Midlands and backing for a Cambridge tech firm.

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00:00A milestone for a new office in Manchester, profit warnings on the rise in the Midlands

00:05and backing for a Cambridge tech firm. That's all coming up in today's Business Briefing.

00:16My name is Lawrence Kilgannon. And I'm Robin Hewson.

00:19Well morning Robin. Morning.

00:21I saw there's a really big property scheme sort of coming to fruition, if you will, in

00:27Perhaps you can tell us a bit more about what that scheme is and what it means for the city.

00:31Yeah, absolutely. So it's the GPA's new site on First Street,

00:34and it's reached a milestone having hit practical completion.

00:38And this is the Government Property Agency. And they're going to have 2600 civil servants based

00:44at this site. So it's going to be a really important site for them. And yeah, as I said,

00:48it's on First Street, and it's ready now for the fit out to commence. So exciting times there.

00:53Fantastic. And you mentioned the number of civil servants who are going to be based there. So it's

00:57not going to be just like a big news for the property sector, but also for all the businesses

01:02in and around First Street. Yeah.

01:04I mean, because I drive past there. Do you go past First Street?

01:07I've been over there to look at some of the new developments.

01:09Yeah, like a whole new sort of area has sprung up in the last four or five years. So all the

01:17little shops that are going to be getting all these civil servants coming for their lunch. In fact,

01:20there's, I think, a food hall being developed.

01:22There is House of Social. The Vita Group scheme, I think, is going up around there.

01:27So if you've got a food hall, it's absolutely music to your ears.

01:29Oh, yeah. Perfect for the new civil servants working there.

01:32And stuff like that. So excellent. So it's topped out, you say?

01:37Yes, it's topped out. And it's now ready to get started with the fit out. It's going to be various

01:42departments based there. So Ofsted, Department for Education, Department for Business and Trade,

01:46as well. And they're also going to relocate 150 roles from other regions over to Manchester. So

01:52it's a nice sign for the north as well. I think the government property agency has been on

01:57quite a journey to spread out across the UK, I guess, and decentralise and bring people to new

02:02areas. So I think it's a good sign that that's kind of getting on as well.

02:06Yeah, absolutely. We've covered a number of schemes similar to this. There was one in

02:11Darlington. So it's great to see Manchester also sort of helping provide new homes for the civil

02:16servants in these various departments as well. Sticking loosely with the government, actually,

02:23the economic sort of soundings that we've had of late, they've been two steps forward, one step

02:27back, I think, or maybe one step forward, two steps back, depending how you look at it.

02:33Because it was interesting recently with the Bank of England interest rate decision,

02:37interest rates came down. But then in the same breath, the bank warned that their growth

02:41forecast for the country in the year ahead was to be halved. So very difficult at the moment.

02:46And that's been reflected in a story that we've covered today, which is based on research by

02:51EY Parthenon about their profit warnings by listed companies. And apparently, profit warnings

02:58by listed companies in the Midlands on this occasion are up to the highest they've been since

03:022022. So you're always a little bit of an alarm bell when the sort of bigger companies in the

03:07economy are struggling to sort of get through the economic climate. And the report found that

03:1437 warnings had been issued in 2024. And apparently, it's sort of the cost pressures

03:21that is prompting these warnings. So for instance, I think it's the start of April when all the

03:27initiatives announced in the budget, which we've had a lot of feedback about, you know,

03:32national employers, national insurance contributions by employers, increased minimum wage, they're all

03:37going to hit. So I think businesses are working out, oh, how can we afford this? Can we take these

03:42steps we were hoping to do? Or do we need to find out where we stand? So it's going to be an

03:47interesting time. But hopefully, you know, people will sort of find their footing and move forward.

03:53But it's definitely a watch and see, not just for people in the business community or commentators

03:57like us, but also I imagine for the government and Rachel Reeves, we will be keen to see some

04:03firms take that in their stride. Now, you've also got news, away from more serious sort of

04:09economics happenings, you've also got news of a fast food restaurant, which is creating jobs.

04:15Well, I mean, retail, leisure, hospitality has all had its issues in the last few years, hasn't it?

04:19So it's always nice when there's kind of new openings around that. So the latest one is a new

04:23Wimpy's in Brighton. So I don't think I've been to a Wimpy's. No, I haven't. I have seen one, but

04:30I'm not sure where the majority of their sites are. How many have they got in England?

04:34They've got 64 across the UK, so quite sizable. Obviously, there's a few kind of around.

04:40Right. They sort of feel old school to me. I don't know if that's perhaps the way they

04:46sell themselves or, you know, but it's burgers. Yeah, I think it's burgers and fast food and

04:50things like that. It's maybe around sort of motorways and service stations, that type of thing.

04:54But yeah, as I say, they've got quite a lot of locations already and they're making quite an

04:57investment into the southeast. So as well as this new site in Brighton, they're also refurbing

05:02their site over in Worthing. So obviously, people in the southeast love Wimpy's.

05:06Fantastic. Well, next time I see one, I'm definitely going to go in just to find out.

05:10And to kind of help them with this investment, they've had funding from Lloyd's. So it was a

05:15£450,000 loan that's going to help them to revitalise these sites and open their new ones.

05:21Excellent. Well, great to see. And we mentioned sort of how the chancellor will be hoping for some

05:26sort of good news, some growth. And I think one area where the UK really excels is in tech.

05:31And we've got news today that Maven Capital Partners has led a £4.5 million funding round

05:37into a Cambridge-based provider of advanced investigations and intelligence software.

05:42A bit of a mouthful. Anyhow, Black Dot, a great name. I do think some of these tech firms have

05:47superb names. They were founded in 2013 and they're going to use this money to help underpin

05:52their growth ambitions. And in particular, I think all over the UK, right here in Manchester,

05:58but Oxford and Cambridge, lots of really sort of world-leading sort of initiatives and stuff.

06:03So hopefully, Black Dot can go from strength to strength. To find out more about the stories

06:09we've been discussing, go to insidermedia.com. There, you can subscribe to our newsletters,

06:14you can subscribe to our magazines, and also find out about upcoming events.

06:18That's everything from us. See you next time.

Watch: Insider's Business Briefing - 12th February 2025

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