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Ben and Dan discuss plans for a new £100m railway station in Liverpool, financial results for a seafood business, and investment for a new hotel and members club in West Sussex.

Transcript

00:00Plans for a new railway station in Liverpool, results for a seafood business and investment

00:05for a new hotel in West Sussex all feature in today's Business Briefing.

00:09Morning Ben.

00:14Morning.

00:15So what's caught you all right today?

00:17Yep, so we've got a timber products group based in South Wales that's planning to acquire

00:24further companies to fuel growth, expand its coverage and diversify its product range.

00:30So in 2024, Premier Forest Products acquired Bites UK and Stairway Joinery and it also invested

00:37in forest timber engineering.

00:41So yeah, Managing Director Terry Eggshell, he's told us future acquisitions that provide continued

00:46product and sector diversity, volume growth and geographic expansion will continue to

00:51be a feature of Premier Forest's story and he's gone on to predict that the turnover

00:57would rise over the next three years as a result of these acquisitions combined with product

01:04inflation in timber and he adds, this will either arise on the back of demand generated

01:09by the anticipated house build policy or from a further curtailment of production across the

01:13world as we have already seen in the last 12 months.

01:16So the Newport Company is listed on a ranking of the top 100 owner managed companies in

01:20Wales and that is published in the April, May edition of Wales Business Inside the Magazine

01:26if you'd like to check that out and yeah, quite interesting with all the acquisitions as well

01:33and it's a business that's really growing acquisitively.

01:37It's a very exciting time for Wales and some exciting news from Liverpool as well because

01:42plans for a new £100 million railway station, Liverpool's Baltic Triangle, are set to be

01:46approved by the Council's Planning Committee.

01:49So you might be familiar with the Baltic Triangle.

01:51Yes, it's a big development area, quite trendy, quite a nice area.

01:55It is very trendy.

01:56It's a lot of upcoming.

01:57When I was a student in Liverpool, I used to live near the Baltic Triangle, I used to go

02:00there all the time.

02:01It's a really nice place, it's got a lot of bars and everyone watched a gig there as well,

02:04so quite an exciting development and it's not got a station either, so I think that'd

02:09be really convenient to have one there, sort of attract visitors to the Baltic Triangle.

02:13So the proposed station will sit on the northern line between Liverpool Central and Brunswick

02:17stations and is one of four new stations promised by the Mayor Steve Rotherham, alongside others

02:22in Daresbury, Woodchurch and Car Mill, but the aim is sort of to boost public transport

02:26across the Liverpool City region and that station is seen as key to regenerating the Baltic

02:31Triangle.

02:32The plan has been recommended for approval and a £96 million funding package is already

02:36in place for development.

02:38So if it's approved by the Department for Transport, construction could start later this year and

02:43the station could be opened by 2027.

02:44It may be open in the next couple of years then.

02:47So we'll keep an eye out on those plans.

02:49Yes, definitely.

02:50So moving away from that, you've got some interesting results for us.

02:53Yes, so it's a seafood business, Lions.

02:55It's reported a rise in pre-tax profits in its latest results and this is, as it says,

03:01markets continue to recover in the UK.

03:04It's based in Warminster, which is in the southwest of England and it's also posted a rise in its

03:09turnover during the financial period.

03:11So it specialises in the sale of various seafoods, so prawns, speciality seafoods and this is

03:18to the retail, catering and manufacturing markets in the UK.

03:22And it's quite a large business, it employs around 300 staff and in its director's report, the

03:28company said the well-developed production facility continues to provide a firm base from which the

03:33business can further develop and the directors of the business add that there has been no

03:38change to the company's major customers and the Real Seafoods brand launched successful

03:43to a number of main retail customers in a year.

03:46So really positive set of results for them.

03:48And are you a big seafood fan, Dan?

03:50I do like my seafood, yeah.

03:51I'm actually jetting off to Cyprus soon, expecting some nice fresh seafood from there.

03:55You'll see plenty there.

03:56Sounds like there's some good offering in the southwest as well.

03:58Yes, plenty in the southwest as well.

04:00So we'll have to keep a close eye on that business.

04:02Are you a seafood fan yourself?

04:03Yes, I enjoy prawns and various other seafood.

04:08Yeah.

04:09Anyway, so moving away from that, just to finish off here, some exciting news from the southeast.

04:14A 55-acre site in West Sussex is set to be transformed into a wellness-focused hotel and

04:19members club.

04:20That's a great idea.

04:21With more than £333,000 already secured in crowdfunding.

04:26So the project is called Long Lane and it was launched by Harrison Hyde and Louis Blake

04:30in 2022 after they found they weren't able to fully enjoy socialising without a negative

04:34impact on their wellbeing.

04:36Yeah.

04:37Specifically, they like to focus on promoting mental, physical and social wellbeing without

04:41alcohol.

04:42In fact, the entire site and hotel is planned to be an alcohol-free zone.

04:45Right.

04:46That's a really interesting concept.

04:47It's a good idea and it just shows you don't have to socialise.

04:52Alcohol doesn't always have to be a good one.

04:53Exactly.

04:54I definitely describe it as a USP in this country since a lot of socialising is centred on drinking.

04:59Yes, exactly.

05:00I really like the idea.

05:01Not safe.

05:02The site is in Midhurst and it's planned to open in spring 2026 and it will feature a

05:07range of facilities including a swimming pool, gym, restaurant and of course paddle courts.

05:12So, so far 53 investors have backed the plans at the time of recording and there's 29 days

05:17left to reach the full £400,000 target.

05:19So, we're keeping an eye out on that campaign to see how they get on.

05:22It's great to see.

05:23It's quite a new project.

05:24Only 2022.

05:25So, they've obviously come on quite a lot in the last couple of years.

05:28That's helped by it.

05:29They've got a lot of people that are sort of in support of them.

05:31Yeah.

05:32So, we'll have to keep an eye on how they get along.

05:34Yeah.

05:35Well, that's all we've got time for today.

05:36To read more about the stories we've discussed today, please visit insidermedia.com

05:40or you can also subscribe to our magazine and find out about upcoming events.

Watch: Insider's Business Briefing - 15th April 2025

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