Watch: Insider's Business Briefing - 2nd August
Simon and Phil discuss the Bank of England cut in interest rates and private equity trends across the UK
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00:00Bank of England interest rate cuts, M&A and private equity trends across the UK.
00:06Welcome to today's Insider Business Briefing.
00:10Well, good morning, nice to see you.
00:17We are here to talk about some of the news stories of the day as reported by Insider.
00:24My name is Phil Cunliffe, I'm one of the business editors.
00:27And I'm Simon Keegan, I'm the editor of the North West Business Insider.
00:31So the Bank of England cut interest rates yesterday down to 5%.
00:35What's your reading of it, Simon?
00:37Well, it's the first time it's been cut, I think, since lockdown, isn't it?
00:40So I think that it's going to be seen as certainly positive news from business.
00:47Some sectors have already come out and said that.
00:50I think it'd be interesting to see whether businesses kind of hold the fire to see if
00:55there's going to be any other movement in the budget.
00:59Might be time to refinance.
01:00And I think we'll also be keeping an eye closely, particularly, I think, on the property sector.
01:05Yeah, absolutely.
01:06House prices will obviously be affected, mortgage rates, etc.
01:10So it could be positive.
01:11And obviously, the October budget is going to be crucial to the long term future.
01:16So it was across the board Insider Dealmakers Awards judging day, wasn't it?
01:23I was up in the North East doing that region's Dealmakers Awards and you were doing the North
01:30West.
01:31Yeah, I was judging the North West Dealmakers Awards as well a few days ago.
01:34So how was yours?
01:36Well, very good.
01:37We had a great bunch of submissions and it was a really good fun judging.
01:45And we've got some great shortlists and winners, of course.
01:50One of the big things that did come out of it, one of the trends we've noticed as a
01:53judging panel is the drop in private equity investments and other activity in the North
02:01East.
02:02And this is actually, Simon, I don't know whether you've noticed it in the North West,
02:05but it's something that's been picked up by KPMG in their annual mid-market private
02:11equity study, which showed across the UK there was an 11% drop in the first quarter of 2024
02:18in private equity deals in the M&A market.
02:23And in the North East, actually, this is even higher.
02:27The average was about just under 20%, about 18% down on what it was in 2023.
02:33So it's quite a significant drop.
02:37But KPMG have signalled that they are quite optimistic that this trend is actually going
02:42to go the other way and the rest of the year there will be an uptick in private equity
02:48investments.
02:49So was that the same in the North West?
02:51I mean, not really.
02:52You know, I heard anecdotally that it's been a quiet year and all this, but the entries
02:58really said otherwise.
03:01We had over 300 entries in, so it was a long judging session.
03:06You know, we did a few rounds of judging.
03:07The first round I got over 30 dealmakers in to get that view from the market, you know,
03:13make sure there wasn't any big deals we were missing and things like that.
03:17And then a few days ago, again, I got another, I think, nine judges in.
03:21So we went through a lot, but you know, that just shows, doesn't it, the volume of entries.
03:27I think what I would say is the people who are doing the deals has changed.
03:32You know, we're seeing a lot less from the big four, particularly, you know, Deloitte
03:37has moved out of the North West as far as that team.
03:41So the deals, I feel like the deals are being done, but they're perhaps being done by different
03:46people.
03:47Yes, we noticed that in the North East as well.
03:48There was one or two newer players coming into the market in that region.
03:52Definitely.
03:53We're finding that, you know, with alternative lenders, with ABL, with transaction services.
03:59You know, remember a few years ago, transaction services was, you know, the shortlist was
04:04like the big four, you know, Deloitte, KPMG, EY, PwC, and then it was maybe BDO.
04:11Now it's much broader.
04:14So it's interesting to see these people.
04:16And also we picked up on the alternative finance provider market, again, certainly
04:22developing in the North East as well as in the North West, of course.
04:26You've got other awards as well, though, coming up, Tom?
04:28I have.
04:29We've got the International Trade Awards coming up as well.
04:31In the North West.
04:32In the North West, yeah.
04:34So entries are open for that now, and people have got until August the 29th to get their
04:40entries in.
04:41Now, what I would say is the event itself is December the 4th at the Midland.
04:47And I feel like people will say, oh, December, we've got ages to enter.
04:50But it's actually quite a long, you know, process, the shortlisting, the judging process.
04:56And we invite the kind of long-listed companies to come in and present to the judges.
05:02So if you're an exporter, you really need to get your entries in sooner rather than
05:08later.
05:09You don't have to be a big global giant when it comes to this.
05:12You know, there's awards for emerging exporters, there's new market awards, and things like
05:17that.
05:18So get in touch.
05:19We're going to put underneath this video, there's going to be all of the links to these
05:24things.
05:25I will say as well, back to dealmakers, Phil, the North West dealmakers, I know North East
05:29has sold out.
05:30We have.
05:31North West has sold out as well, which is remarkable.
05:34The events used to only sell out when you released the shortlist, because people would
05:38wait and see if they were in with a chance of winning.
05:41But dealmakers have sold out already, and the North West, that's 1,100 tickets have
05:46been sold.
05:47Phenomenal.
05:48The event itself is October the 17th.
05:50What I would say is, if you've missed out on a ticket, get in touch, because our events
05:56team do have a waiting list.
05:58So if anything should happen, where the table becomes free, you know, a seat becomes free,
06:03you can get on our waiting list and we can let you know if we can help you.
06:08Or maybe find out which of your friends have got a table and start being nice to them.
06:13We should also say the date for the North East dealmakers is the 26th of September at
06:17the Hilton Newcastle Gateshead.
06:19So it's always a really fun night, as I know it is in the North West.
06:22So yeah, that's all we have time for this morning.
06:25I hope you enjoyed it.
06:27We'll be back for more news and views about what's happening across the regions in tomorrow's
06:36business briefing.
06:37But for today, if you want to find out more, go to insidermedia.com and read all the news
06:43there and everything else we've got going on.
06:45So have a good day.
06:46See you next time.