Robyn and Laurence discussed the acquisition of a North East shopping centre, the Wales Dealmakers Awards shortlist and the North West Rich List.
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00:00A new owner for a North East shopping centre, the shortlist for the Wales Dealmaker Awards
00:05and the richest people in the North West. That's all coming up in today's Business
00:09Briefing. My name is Laurence Gleganon.
00:16And I'm Robin Hewson. Good morning, Robin.
00:18Morning. Yes, so we'll start in the North East. Exciting
00:22story there where there is a new owner for the Bridges Shopping Centre. That's in Sunderland.
00:27It's certainly one of the largest shopping destinations in the North East. It encompasses
00:33almost 600,000 square foot of space. A big old thing, comparable to say to the Armed
00:38Ale in Manchester. One of the major ones anyhow. It's anchored by Primark, Next and TK Maxx
00:45and it's been acquired by Evolve Estates. They're part of Emcor Group. And Emcor or
00:51Evolve, they're sort of very acquisitive at the moment. They're going around the UK buying
00:55shopping centres and I think they then, you know, they look to sort of asset manage it
01:00and get new tenants in and sort of drive up footfall and get more shoppers in, I suppose.
01:05Yeah, I should see some exciting new names there, I guess.
01:08Yes, I'm sure, I'm sure. And is shopping something that's big in the world of Robin?
01:12Oh, well, I grew up near Meadow Hall in Sheffield, so that was always the one we went to, yeah.
01:16Oh, fantastic. In fact, Meadow Hall was subject of a landmark deal earlier this year. So for
01:21me, it's more targeted shopping.
01:23Yeah, get in and get out.
01:24Exactly. And hopefully have a nice lunch on the way. Which I think that's the way people
01:29are changing, isn't it? The leisure is as important as the shops that are there. Okay,
01:35well, I understand you've got news of an exciting deal in the North West.
01:39Yeah, so BGF have made a big investment into Evolve. So Evolve is a specialist in managed
01:44network and IT services and they've secured a multi-million pound investment to really
01:49help them achieve their growth goals. And they've got some quite ambitious goals coming
01:53up. So they not only want to increase their headcount by 40% over the next three years,
01:58they also want to double their turnover. So this investment is going to help them get
02:02to that. So they were a company founded in 2005 in Wigan. And they basically help businesses
02:09reduce costs and simplify management. And they work across lots of different sectors.
02:13So retail, hospitality, food to go and petrol stations. So yeah, sort of got lots of different
02:19sectors going on. Excellent. And yeah, so in the last few years, they've already increased
02:23their turnover from 6 million up to, they're targeting 20 this year. And then on top of
02:29that, they then want to increase that even further.
02:31I suppose the BGF money will help them do that. Is that the plan?
02:34Absolutely. Yeah. So the plan is international expansion, particularly in the US where they've
02:38already got over a thousand places that they are helping. And they want to increase that
02:43even further, as well as, as I said, sort of increase the headcount in the UK and abroad.
02:48So yeah, I think that's a one to watch in the next few years.
02:51Absolutely. Ambitious plans there. And I've heard a lot of steam coming out of people's
02:55ears from behind me in the office. And I think there's a new issue with the North West Magazine.
03:01Is that right, Robbie?
03:02Yeah. So we're in our production week for the North West Magazine at the moment. So
03:05that will be with everyone soon. And one of the key features that we've got going into
03:09that is the Rich List. So that's compiled by Rob Watts, who also does the Sunday Times
03:13Rich List. But we do sort of a business version. So it's not just sort of the richest celebrities
03:18or athletes. It's sort of all about wealthy business people. But it can be celebrities
03:23if they've also got that business side, which we do get quite a lot of.
03:25And always really interesting stories. Gary Neville, for instance, is someone, I'm not
03:29sure if he's in the list, but you know, he's-
03:30I imagine so.
03:31Yeah. He's famous for his sporting endeavours, but now almost as famous for his sort of property
03:36development and media work. So is it just a straight list or is there anything different
03:41this time?
03:42So we'll have the top 50 in the magazine this year, but we're also going to do some breakouts
03:45online. So we're going to do a little bit deeper analysis this year and have a look
03:49at sort of wealthiest people in tech, wealthiest women, wealthiest self-made entrepreneurs,
03:55and different things like that. So we're really sort of digging into who's sort of up and
03:59coming.
04:00Fantastic. Well, that'll be a really interesting read for the readers and people who are interested
04:03in finding out who the success stories are for the North West. And we're sticking with
04:08Insider. This morning we revealed the shortlist for the Wales Dealmaker Awards. As you know,
04:14they're a sort of very prestigious corporate finance banking kind of award and attract
04:19massive audiences. And the Dealmakers is taking place in Cardiff on the 26th of September.
04:26So if you want to get your tickets, go to insidermedia.com to find out more. Have you
04:30been to a Dealmakers Award? They're always great fun.
04:33Yeah, I've been to the North West one a couple of times and it's massive. There's like over
04:36a thousand people there.
04:37Yeah, great fun.
04:38Everyone in great spirits.
04:39Also a great chance to network as well.
04:40Yeah, definitely.
04:41People definitely do both at those events. So as I say, that's everything that we've
04:48discussing today. If you want to find out more about the stories, to subscribe to our
04:52newsletters, to subscribe to our magazines, go to insidermedia.com. Also go to our LinkedIn
04:59page where you can find out more about the things we've been discussing. See you next
05:03time.