Watch: Insider's Business Briefing - 11th September
Laurence and Daniel discuss investment for an award-winning Welsh brewery, expansion for a Northern Irish business and the MBO of a Liverpool-based advisory firm.
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00:00Investment in an award-winning brewery, expansion for a Northern Irish business
00:04and an MBO at a Liverpool-based advisory firm. That's all coming up in today's
00:09business briefing.
00:15My name is Lawrence Corganan. I'm Daniel Zambartas. Right, morning Dan. Morning.
00:21We'll start over in Wales where entrepreneur Mike Harris has acquired a
00:2651% stake in Powys' Monty's Brewery. Now Monty's Brewery is award-winning as I
00:34said at the start because they picked up an award at Made in Wales. They won in
00:37the food and drink category, making a range of beers, stouts and ales. Clearly
00:44getting that investment is going to help them drive growth and what-have-you.
00:46And Mike Harris is an interesting character as well. He's got a
00:52portfolio across a range of interests but he's also well known for owning
00:57the New Saints who are a football team and not just any old team, they're a
01:02regular Champions League participant. Now I might predate your interest in
01:08Liverpool, but TNS, the New Saints, they took on the Mighty Reds in 2006.
01:15It was just before I started watching Liverpool but I remember seeing the
01:18highlights of it when I was very young. Yeah, well it was after the
01:21famous Istanbul win for Liverpool and they had to go through the qualifying
01:26rounds and one of the teams they played on the way was the New Saints and yeah
01:29so it was a fantastic year before and it got them off to a good start in 2006.
01:35So we'll have to wait and see what lies ahead for Monty's
01:40Brewery but they'll be delighted to have that backing there. Now sticking with
01:45deals, I understand you've got some news from Northern Ireland for us. I do, so
01:48Elite Electronic Systems have acquired CB Technology from Maven Capital Partners.
01:53So these are both electronic manufacturers. Elite is based in Enniskillen
01:57and CB are based in Livingston. So it's quite a significant milestone for Elite
02:01as they expand into Scotland which will allow them to serve a broader range of
02:05industries and Jonathan Balfour, the Chief Executive, he described the move as
02:09a pivotal step for the company and their growth plans and the combination of the
02:13two companies will see them benefit from shared market intelligence and
02:17expand the resources which will bolster their presence in the EMS market. And so
02:21Elite was established back in 1986 and CB in 1999 so between them they've got a
02:27lot of experience and expertise which will help drive those growth plans and
02:30obviously being in two different countries as well and there'll be
02:33benefits from expanding their client bases respectively. Yeah, no, interesting
02:37to see Northern Ireland acquiring Scotland and automatically gives a
02:41geographical expansion. Yeah, you don't see that every day. Great to see and sticking
02:45with deals, it's quite deals heavy today but DSG Chartered Accountants, their
02:50Liverpool-based advisory firm, they've been acquired in a management buyout.
02:55Always very popular with our readers, professional service deals, firms buying
02:59other firms or being acquired in MBOs. The MBO is led by tax partner Mark
03:05Kersley and corporate partner Laura Leslie and DSG, it's got about 110
03:12staff in its latest accounts. It brought in fee income of £7.6 million
03:17and existing shareholders Andrew Moss and Gene Ellis, they're going to
03:23retain a stake in the business and also play active roles going forward so
03:26exciting times for DSG. Very exciting there, yeah. Absolutely, now as I said we've
03:30been deals, deals, deals but you've got some news about property in the
03:34southeast. Yep, slimming away from deals now from my patch in the southeast so
03:38I've seen a major scheme which would create 100 jobs in Herne Bay and that's
03:41been recommended for approval by Canterbury City Council so that project
03:45is for a new health and fitness club as well as three tennis courts, a paddle
03:49court, swimming pool, gym, a spa and more so quite a major development and
03:53interestingly that would be run by David Lloyd Ledgers, quite a famous
03:57nationwide brand. Yeah definitely and that project would be developed at the
04:01Altrich of Business Park which is a mixed-use park, it's got a premier arena,
04:05driving centre, restaurants and other businesses and but the site for this
04:09project is a 1.92 hectare plot of vacant grassland just located to the north of
04:13the boulevard which is the street that that business park is on and the health
04:17club is proposed to be over 4,000 square meters so quite large as well and it
04:21would contain a gym, swimming pool, sports hall and spa and just to the west of the
04:25building we've got an outdoor spa pool and a paddle court which I find
04:30interesting that a paddle courts been introduced in that scheme. We've had a
04:33bit of a blanket ban on paddle court stories for these briefings because I
04:37want every day. It's amazing how popular it is, it seems to be coming all over the
04:41country. It's getting quite a boom at the moment. And I understand further afield in the UK as well.
04:46Yes I was in Cyprus last week which is where I'm originally from and me and my
04:50friends were, we wanted to play, we tried to book a court out but they were all
04:53fully booked from the times between 6 and 10 for the entire month which is
04:57obviously the only time it's cool enough to play in the day in Cyprus so that
05:01just really highlights how the sport is expanding not only in the UK but across
05:05Europe as well. And would that be your debut down in the sport?
05:09I've wanted to have a go for a while but I haven't. Have you played?
05:12I happen to know but yes like you it does seem like a sort of great
05:14combination of skills, hand-eye but also stamina so I think hand-eye not too bad
05:20but stamina well I could be found lacking. Looks like a great fun. Anyway back to the
05:25schemes though to the east of the club we've defined three tennis courts which
05:29would have an enclosed airdrome which would allow players to play tennis at
05:33any point in the year you know whatever kind of weather conditions you've got
05:37and if the weather is anything like it is up here in Manchester down in
05:40Canterbury I think that drone will get a lot of use. Yeah absolutely well the
05:45local tennis club near me tends to be particularly busy around Wimbledon time
05:49less so for the rest of the year but maybe indoors and the weather's
05:53sort of not in the equation it makes it easier to sort of pick up the racket and
05:57so anyhow to read more about the stories we've spoken about today go to
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06:11us see you next time