Alice and Stephen discuss investment in a King's Award-winning steel company, a record year for a bakery group and plans for a new West Midlands neighbourhood.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Investment in the King's award-winning steel company, a record year for a bakery
00:04group, and plans for a new West Midlands neighbourhood, featured in today's
00:07business briefing.
00:13Good morning Alice. Morning Stephen. We've got some great stories today, starting
00:18off in Buckinghamshire, where a company specialising in the modification of
00:21luxury vehicles has agreed a deal for a new facility. Urban Automotive is a
00:26modifier of brands like Land Rover, Rolls-Royce, Mercedes and Lamborghini.
00:32It has supplied a range of subjects and sports cars with custom vehicles as
00:36well, so keep an eye out for some of those on the roads. The company is
00:39expanding following a recent investment from its European distributor, AM Group
00:43Holdings, and has now signed a 10-year lease for a 43,000 square foot warehouse
00:48unit, Michigan Drive, in Tongwell, Milton Keynes. That's going to become the new
00:53R&D and design and manufacturing facility for the group, and Urban
00:58Automotive said it represented the first step in its plan for growth and will
01:02significantly increase capacity, so great news for that company there, really
01:06interesting business. Urban Automotive was advised by property consultancy
01:10Kirby Diamond, which has previously supported it on a number of previous
01:13transactions, so a great deal around that. Yeah, there's lots of really
01:17interesting companies like that in the C&E. Yeah, it's a really important area
01:20for the automotive sector especially. Yeah, sure, well kind of sticking with the
01:24manufacturing theme, Kings Award-winning stainless steel company Paralloy has
01:29secured a seven-figure investment to accelerate its growth in Teesside. So, the
01:34business was established in the 60s, it won a Kings Award last year and is
01:39actually also named in our Northeast Gazelles list, which features in the most
01:43recent issue of Northeast Business Decider, which is actually behind us,
01:47funnily enough. It's secured the loan from the Teesside Flexible
01:52Investment Fund, which is managed by FW Capital, and that fund is for £20
01:58million and it was actually launched last year. Now, this is the first
02:02investment since its launch and seven figures, so quite a big one, and Paralloy
02:07operates from seven sites in the UK, including in Middlesbrough and in
02:12Sheffield as well, and in the Northeast it employs more than 500
02:17people alongside 1,000 people globally. So, the investment will help drive growth
02:22in the region, including by making new jobs, but on kind of its global expansion
02:26last year, it snapped up French company Manoir, so that was a historic company, so
02:32quite a big acquisition for them. So, obviously they've got lots of plans on
02:35the horizon and I imagine this funding will support all of those. Yeah, really
02:39good, really good growth story. Nice to have a deal to talk about as well.
02:42Yeah. Well, elsewhere today we've got Finsby Food Group, which has reported
02:47record revenue and profits in its first year as a private company. You may
02:53remember, of course, it being a listed company a few years back. It was acquired
02:56in a £143.4 million deal towards the end of 2023. So, the group
03:02creates and supplies a range of bread and cakes through a variety of brands and
03:06channels, works across the UK and Europe selling proprietary, own-brand and
03:11licensed products, supplies the food service sector and a host of major
03:16supermarkets. So, I'm sure most of you out there will have tried some of their
03:20products in the past. The company's headquartered in Cardiff and it also has
03:24operations in Manchester, Salisbury, Sheffield, Pontypool, Scotland, Poland and
03:29France, so a really big employer there in the UK and in Europe. So, its accounts
03:35for the 52 weeks to the end of June 2024 have just been released and they show
03:40revenue of £452.4 million and that's a strong increase from
03:44£413.7 million in 2023. Pre-tax profit rose along with that going to
03:50£19.8 million from £16.2 million, so a really strong year around following the
03:56deal. The directors said the results have benefited from the
03:59implementation of the group's excellent strategy, which they said
04:03had driven significant efficiencies across the operation. So, a strong year
04:07and they're optimistic for the future as well. Yeah, good to see they're still
04:10doing well. Well, finally, plans for a new neighbourhood in the West Midlands
04:15have been submitted. So, the scheme has been submitted by MUSE and it's for
04:21the regeneration of Mel Square in Solihull Town Centre and it includes up
04:26to 1,600 homes alongside bars, restaurants, cafes and shops. So, the
04:32project will include build-to-rent and affordable homes and they kind of aim to
04:35attract young professionals and students alongside families as well. And, as you
04:40can imagine, there's also plans for a range of flexible and green public
04:45spaces. Now, Lisa Turley, who's a development director at MUSE, said that
04:49the company has worked in partnership and really closely with the council on
04:53the development and the proposals have also been shaped following engagement
04:57with the community and partners across the town centre. So, now that the plans
05:02have been lodged, the council will review those and make a full decision.
05:05It's hoped that that will be done by the end of this year and, if backed, plans
05:12construction could start as early as next year. So, that's all from us today.
05:17If you would like to read about that story or any of the stories we've
05:20discussed today, you can do so on insidermedia.com. While you're there, feel
05:24free to subscribe to our newsletters, our magazines and also check out all of the
05:28new events that are coming up. Thanks for watching.