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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.

Transcript

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,

05:33where you can also subscribe to our magazine and find out about upcoming events.

Watch: Insider's Business Briefing - 18th February 2025

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