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Laurence and Ben discuss a law firm's first acquisition of 2025, results for an oriental food business and The Open set to generate an economic windfall for Northern Ireland.

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00:00A law firm's first acquisition of 2025 results for an oriental food business and the open set

00:06to generate an economic windfall for Northern Ireland. That's all coming up in today's business briefing.

00:18My name is Lawrence Kilgannon. My name is Ben Butler. Well morning Ben. Yes so law firms and

00:24the comings and goings of law firms is always popular with our audience. It's a big area for us

00:28that insider. It is definitely. Today we've got news of Express solicitors. They're a

00:33North West headquartered business. Specialised primarily in personal injury. They've made

00:38their first acquisition of 2025. That's okay. Yeah so they've acquired HNK which is a Liverpool based

00:44firm. They specialise in areas like civil liberties, data breach, cyber crime and criminal

00:52injury claims. Some quite interesting areas. Yeah very interesting and I imagine that's

00:57strengthening Express in those areas. Yeah adding to what they can offer and as part of the ALHNK

01:04partners Brian Higgs and Craig Newton are joining Express alongside 23 members of staff. So a decent

01:11sized firm. Absolutely. And obviously exciting news for Express as they continue their expansion plans.

01:17Certainly one to keep an eye on. It certainly is yes and I also mentioned in the intro about the

01:22oriental food business so perhaps you can tell us some more. Yes sir. Are you a fan of oriental food?

01:28Absolutely yes of all varieties I think it'd be safe to say. Same here with me. Can you name the firm?

01:33Where they're based? I know that they're based in Newport. I don't know the firm. It's Kwan Yik it is.

01:39So in their latest results they've reported a rise in turnover and that's as it consistently

01:47accused a strong market share. So turnover's gone up from £64.8 million to just over £66 million.

01:55Right. And so Kwan Yik is an importer and distributor of specialist foods and packaging materials for the

02:01catering trade. And in the director's report directors have said that they're pleased with the

02:06performance of the business in 2024 considering what they say was a challenging trading environment

02:12and higher cost of living which I think is something that a lot of businesses can relate to. And the

02:18directors of the business envisage that trading conditions will remain challenging throughout

02:24the rest of this year. I think that the company is well positioned to manage and take on this challenge

02:29and as you'll be aware you know with tariffs at the moment and various other things there are some real

02:35challenges there. For import businesses, export businesses, well pretty much all businesses seem to be

02:40touched by the issues you mentioned. So I'm sure it's a long established business.

02:44Yes but despite this they've done well increasing turnover and they're confident for the year

02:51ahead. Excellent. Keep an eye on them. Okay and well the next story is one that caught my eye as a golf

02:57fan. You're not a golf fan are you Ben? Not quite convinced it's a sport. I'm sure many of our readers are.

03:04Yeah well I'm firmly in the in the pro camp and there's four majors in the in the golfing calendar

03:10and the perhaps well certainly the oldest of those is the open. Yeah. And the 153rd edition of the

03:19open is going to be held. Really historic event. Yeah absolutely and it's going to be held in

03:24Royal Portrush. Right. That's on the Antrim Coast in Northern Ireland.

03:27And the RNA, the Royal and Ancient, that's the governing body. They've said that there's going

03:34to be almost 300,000 visitors attending the tournament. Wow that's a popular event. Remarkable yes.

03:40And that apparently is going to be a record outside of St Andrews, the home of golf. Yes of course.

03:46And I think they've got particularly great capacity for having fans there. But at Royal

03:54Portrush there's going to be 278,000 people descending on the links. It's a real global event then is it?

04:00Oh absolutely yes. There'll be people from all corners of the globe attending. Has it ever been held

04:08in Ireland before? Well it was held in Northern Ireland actually at Royal Portrush last time in 2019.

04:13Right. Fittingly that edition was won by Shane Lowry. Perhaps, well I'd say for sure the most famous

04:22Northern Irish golfer is Rory McIlroy. Yes of course. So it'd be something of a homecoming for him.

04:27And the Masters success was. Yeah that's right. He was headlines all over the world because he'd been

04:35trying to win all four majors creating like a career Grand Slam for many years because he missed out on the

04:42Masters I think in 2011. Right. At the outset of his career. Every year he's come back and he's not

04:48quite done it. So that was very emotional. And I think he's also got unfinished business at Royal

04:53Portrush because you know his local lad. Yes. And in 2019 when Lowry won it he actually missed the cut

04:59so didn't get to play at the weekend. So he'll be keen to make amends for that. And who'd bet against him

05:03to be honest. Oh absolutely. Especially after the recent Masters success. Yeah. And actually the

05:10the economic sort of impact of this tournament is remarkable. Apparently it's been forecast

05:17that it's going to have a £213 million economic impact. Significant. Oh yeah really big. So it's

05:23almost £70 million just from the direct impact of people turning up. And then the rest is in sort of

05:29the exposure that the tournament gives. And when will this be taking place? Well the tournament is

05:35the sort of event is from the 13th and 20th of July. So slap bang in the middle of July. Right in the

05:41heart of the summer. Yeah exactly. It's one of the crown jewels. And not too long to wait. No no for

05:45golf fans. For Northern Irish golf fans in particular not long to wait. And I'm certainly looking forward

05:50to that one. And I'll actually be hoping that Rory can. Behind Rory. Yeah. Well I think if you're in the

05:56open you become the champion golfer of the year. Right. So it's a title. Not a bad title to add. Yeah.

06:00A title many people would be desperate to get. Fantastic. Yeah. So and I know you've got some

06:04news of a port company in the South West. Yes. So it's a company which owns and operates the docks

06:11at Royal Portbury and Avonmouth. And in the year to 30 June 2024 pre-tax profit at first corporate

06:20shipping. Although they trade as the Bristol port company rose to 34.6 million pounds from 32.3 million

06:27pounds. And they've said it was another strong year across most trades. And that's helped turn over

06:33climb as well. So the company is a subsidiary of First Corporate Consultants Limited. And it's the

06:40statutory harbour authority for the port of Bristol. So the group provides port facilities, cargo handling and

06:46storage services. And according to a review within the company's accounts, directors said they were

06:52pleased with a satisfactory year's trading. And they've said that they remain confident for the future

06:59on the back of the latest year. Obviously important around that area with would it be an Avonmouth and

07:06the Severn Estuary. Yeah, it would be the gateway to the world I suppose for that part of the UK.

07:12Going to Wales as well. Yeah. Across the Severn Bridge.

07:14But again, it will be another business that will be casting eyes over the Atlantic to see what's

07:19going on with the tariffs. Seems to be the case with a lot of firms at the moment.

07:23It does indeed. Well, another one to watch with interest.

07:25Yes, definitely. Well, great. To find out more about the stories we've discussed,

07:28go to insidermedia.com. There you can subscribe to our newsletters, you can subscribe to our magazines,

07:35and you can find out about upcoming events. That's everything from us. See you next time.

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