Watch: Insider's Business Briefing - 24th September
Jennifer and Laurence talk about the shortlists for the Lancashire Property Awards, a landmark financing deal and plans for a Christmas event space.
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00:00The shortlist for the Lancashire Property Awards, a landmark deal for an acquisitive UK company and plans in for a Christmas event space.
00:10That's all coming up in today's Business Briefing.
00:18My name is Laurence Cleganant.
00:20And my name is Jennifer O'Keefe.
00:22Right Jen, we mentioned at the start there the shortlist for the Lancashire Property Awards, so perhaps you can tell us a little bit more about that.
00:28Yes, I can indeed. So the shortlist was revealed today.
00:32So the awards ceremony highlights the region's top property professionals and their achievements across the county.
00:40So the ceremony will be a gala dinner event, showcasing the work of developers, house builders and their public sector partners.
00:48And it's taking place on the 14th of November at Blackpool Winter Gardens.
00:53Yes, and it was a moved venue to accommodate demand.
00:57Yes, exactly.
00:58So clearly the good folk of Lancashire are looking forward to hearing about who's won the awards there.
01:04The property community will also be looking at the upcoming budget, which is October the 30th.
01:11Always a busy day here at Insider.
01:13And I think the wider business community will have taken heart from Rachel Reeves' keynote speech at yesterday's Labour Party conference.
01:24Because there has been a bit of a doom and gloom vibe about it, hasn't there?
01:27You know, talk of black holes and hard decisions to be made.
01:31But Reeves was a bit more at pains to say that there are things, positive things, they're going to be unveiling a new industrial strategy.
01:38So there was a bit more room for optimism and talk of rebuilding Britain.
01:43And that was well received by organisations like the British Chamber of Commerce and the Federation for Small Businesses.
01:48So I suppose the proof will be in the pudding. We'll have to wait and see what happens in due course.
01:54But away from sort of the macro economy, I understand you've got some results from a law firm in the South West for us.
02:00Yes, I do. So there's been some really good news for the law firm Nicol Moores in the South West.
02:06The law firm today published its accounts for the year up until the 30th of April, where it reported a turnover of £50 million, up 16% from the year previous.
02:19And there's been also some good news for the company throughout the year.
02:24In March, the company moved to an 11,000 square foot bespoke office on Victoria Street in Bristol.
02:33And that was to accommodate the increased headcount, which I believe increased by 72%.
02:39Right, so all go to Nicol Moores.
02:41Yes, absolutely. And then also some very positive news.
02:45In May, the company announced that it was moving towards closer to gender parity, where it announced that female partners were accounting for 49%.
02:58Right, OK. Excellent news from Nicol Moores then.
03:01Absolutely.
03:02Well, I mentioned at the start about a sort of landmark financing deal, and that involves RSK Group.
03:08They're an environmental services group, very acquisitive, employee-owned, based in Helsby in Cheshire.
03:15And they've now secured a £525 million capital injection that's been completed.
03:22It was announced originally in June.
03:24Searchlight Capital Partners and Ares had sort of backed the company.
03:30And they've now revealed that that's also including investment from Penta and from BGF, our friends at BGF.
03:36So no doubt that extra funding will mean more deals on the horizon for RSK.
03:40So we'll wait and see.
03:42And we can conclude.
03:44Jen, have you started doing your Christmas shopping yet?
03:46No, not yet.
03:47No, no. To be fair, I haven't even given it any thought.
03:50Well, I think I have to get Halloween out of the way and then turn my eye to Christmas.
03:54But that's not the case for the UK Event Heritage.
03:59You've submitted plans for a new Christmas event space in a car park at Meadowhall, the shopping centre.
04:05So if those plans get approved, it'll accommodate space for up to 5,000 visitors per day.
04:12Oh, wow.
04:13Yeah, incredible.
04:14It seems like a lot.
04:15It will also feature an ice rink, Santa's grotto, and space for retailers and food and drinks.
04:22So I think that's sort of started getting the Christmas feeling going a little bit for me.
04:26And I'm sure it'll be great for the people of Sheffield and further afield.
04:29Anyhow, to find out more about the stories that we've been speaking about, go to insidermedia.com.
04:35You can also subscribe to our newsletters there or find out about upcoming events.
04:40That's everything from us. See you next time.