Alice and Adam discuss record figures for Birmingham Airport, the acquisition of a Northern Ireland building merchant, and a £50,000 boost for a children's entertainment business.
00:00An acquisition for a construction company in Northern Ireland, funding for a children's entertainment business and record figures at Birmingham Airport, featuring today's business briefing.
00:15Good morning Alice.
00:16Morning Adam.
00:16Did you have a good Easter?
00:18I did, did you?
00:18I did, thank you. I went home, which was nice.
00:20No worries.
00:21I'll kick us off today with a significant acquisition in Northern Ireland, with a construction company, Cozy Group, expanding with the acquisition of a family-run building merchant.
00:32Now the company said the deal marks the beginning of a new era for the group.
00:36It has acquired J&W McCall, which was established in 1957 and provides building materials to homeowners and businesses across Northern Ireland.
00:46The company currently employs 48 people and following the acquisition will boost Cozy Group's workforce to 63.
00:54Now, despite the acquisition, J&W McCall will continue to operate as a standalone business and retain its own name.
01:02Excellent.
01:03Well, sticking on the deals topic, a children's entertainment business has secured a £50,000 boost, which will support its expansion across Lancashire and the wider Northwest.
01:13So, Kids Pamper Bus provides a custom-fitted bus that brings fun and memorable experiences directly to customers' doorsteps.
01:21So, it offers things such as mini makeovers, hairstyling, dress-up sections and also themed parties.
01:28So, the funding will enable the business to purchase and fit out a second bus.
01:32It will also allow it to develop an online booking service while also providing some more working capital.
01:37That's great.
01:39Moving on to a different note now, and I'm sure a lot of people travelled over the Easter break.
01:45Birmingham Airport has released some figures which show a record year for passenger numbers.
01:51The figures issued by BHX reveal that more than 13 million people travelled through the airport in the 2024-25 financial year.
01:59The figure was bolstered by a record march, which saw more than 950,000 people pass through the airport, which is a 3.8% increase on the same period of the prior year.
02:11Now, in response to this boost in demand, the airport is currently undergoing investment to improve terminal facilities and infrastructure.
02:19This is alongside a new food and beverage area, which is planned to open in 2026, and that will also cater for the increasing amount of customers.
02:27Excellent. Well, we also got some news just before Easter that Newcastle Airport was expecting loads and loads of people to travel over that period.
02:36So, good to see that airport well and truly recovered from COVID.
02:40Yeah.
02:41Well, sticking in the northeast, a business based at Net Park in County Durham has unveiled its AI technology,
02:48which aims to save the NHS nearly £65 million through the early detection of osteoporosis.
02:54So, IBEC Innovations is actually backed by Dr. Sarah Jarvis, who is a GP, but she's also a medical broadcaster,
03:02and she suffers with the disease herself.
03:05Now, she was actually diagnosed when she was 60 years old.
03:08And the business has produced software which enables the early detection of the disease,
03:13which impacts more than 3 million people across the UK.
03:15So, basically, many people are diagnosed with osteoporosis after they've already had a fracture.
03:21So, ideally, the aim is that they are kind of already identified as high risk before anything like that happens.
03:30And the IBEC said that their software enables this to happen.
03:34It enables it to be detected before a serious fracture occurs, giving people an important window to take action.
03:40And this could prevent nearly 5,000 fractures and also free up more than 50,000 hospital beds.
03:47So, really great news there.
03:48Really good to see, you know, some innovative technology making a difference.
03:51And if you'd like to read more about that story or any of the stories we've discussed today,
03:55you can do so on insidermedia.com.
03:58While you're there, you can subscribe to our newsletters and also check out our upcoming events.
Be the first to comment