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00:00Two insider shortlists, results for a custom Land Rover firm, and plans for a
00:04data center in Salford all feature in today's business briefing.
00:12So good morning Alice. Good morning Jennifer. I believe you have some insider
00:16news to start us off today. I do, yes. So we just celebrated our UK Dealmakers
00:22Awards, the first ever ones, and that was a big success. But the work does not stop
00:27and today we have published two new shortlists. The first one is for the
00:31Northern Ireland Dealmakers Awards. Now as you know the Dealmakers Awards is
00:37probably our most popular event. They celebrate the advisory firms, banks and
00:41investors working in the area. And the Northern Ireland Awards will be hosted
00:46next month on the 20th of March in Belfast, so that's an exciting one to
00:50look forward to. We've also published a shortlist today for the Mid and the
00:54Northeast Awards. Now again this is quite a big one for the region because the
00:59Northeast does have a really rich manufacturing history so that's always a
01:02really popular one, one that people look forward to. And again that's next month
01:07the 13th of March when those awards will take place. So if you want to see who's
01:11been shortlisted you can do so on our website and they'll also be included in
01:16our newsletters. Brilliant, and those events always promise to be a good night.
01:19So moving over to some property news then. A proposed development of
01:23apartments set to support the wider regeneration of Leeds South Bank will go
01:27before councillors this week with a recommendation for approval. So plans
01:32were submitted to Leeds City Council last summer for development on the side
01:35of Zurich House just off Water Lane. A planning permission is being sought for
01:39a total of a hundred and seventy apartments across two blocks which are
01:43comprised studio and one, two and three bedroom units. The development would
01:47feature a roof terrace and amenities like a residence gym, cinema room, a
01:53flexible workspace and communal seating areas among others. And the council's
01:59City Plans panel will discuss the application at a meeting on the 13th of
02:02February. Excellent. Well sticking with Leeds, bespoke
02:06Land Rover firm Overfinch is upbeat on its prospects following investment in
02:11product development. So the company has an operations base in Leeds but also has
02:16UK showrooms in Knutsford and in London. Now it's filed some new accounts for the
02:21year ending the 30th of April 2024 which showed that turnover dipped
02:25slightly to £12.7 million and it did record an EBITDA loss of £4,000.
02:31However pre-tax losses were reduced which is positive and in the report the
02:36business says that key elements of developments were completed at the end
02:41of the financial year and its new offerings are set to support growth in
02:45the medium to short term. Now work on the challenges was completed, work on the
02:52developments, sorry, was completed despite some kind of well-publicised
02:56financial challenges in the automotive sector. Now just recently we had Virtu
03:02Motors talking about the issues that they are having to contend with so
03:05definitely something that's being discussed wider. But the directors
03:10said that they expect a strong rebound in their current financial year which
03:14ends in April and it also expects to return to profitability in that year as
03:19well. Management is also looking to expand beyond its kind of key markets
03:24which are the UK and the US so lots of plans in the works there. Great, well to
03:30finish off today's news over in Salford, plans for a £250 million data
03:35centre have been given the green light. The data centre has been described as
03:39crucial for the UK to maintain its position as a global leader in
03:43technology. Salford City Council backed the development and it will be located
03:47at Peel Waters, Halo West site between Eccles and Earlham. Peel Waters had
03:51previously secured planning permission to redevelop the six-acre industrial
03:55site last July and the centre's work as physical storage space for online
04:00information used for websites, applications and digital services and
04:04have been designated as critical national infrastructure by the
04:09government. Definitely a trend we're seeing, there's lots of those popping up
04:13all around the country. And if you would like to read more about that story and
04:18also see a picture of what the data centre will look like alongside any of
04:22the stories we've discussed today you can do so on insidermedia.com. While
04:26you're there feel free to subscribe to our daily newsletters as well as our
04:29magazines and you can also check out all of our upcoming events including the
04:33ones that we've discussed today. Thanks for watching.