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Merlin Entertainments: General Discussion

I wouldn't be surprised if they shed non-central assets in the coming years; Scott highlighted the importance of the central 'Clusters' in an early interview and suggested Merlin would focus on growing these. With Universal hopefully on its way and potentially attracting a broader audience, it would make sense to plough money into the London cluster and perhaps pass on some of their other assets.
 
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BooMT said:
I wouldn't be surprised if they shed non-central assets in the coming years; Scott highlighted the importance of the central 'Clusters' in an early interview and suggested Merlin would focus on growing these. With Universal hopefully on its way and potentially attracting a broader audience, it would make sense to plough money into the London cluster and perhaps pass on some of their other assets.
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I don't see them getting rid of much in the UK. The theme parks already operate as a sort of cluster and the UK annual pass feeds into this. London and Blackpool operate as good clusters. They've already closed Bear Grylls that didn't fit, but that still leaves Lego Discovery Centre, Sea Life and Cadbury as a Birmingham cluster. Maybe some of the under-performing Sea Life centres will go, but given most have been viable for 30 years I can't see that changing.
 
jon81uk said:
I don't see them getting rid of much in the UK. The theme parks already operate as a sort of cluster and the UK annual pass feeds into this. London and Blackpool operate as good clusters. They've already closed Bear Grylls that didn't fit, but that still leaves Lego Discovery Centre, Sea Life and Cadbury as a Birmingham cluster. Maybe some of the under-performing Sea Life centres will go, but given most have been viable for 30 years I can't see that changing.
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I suspect with Sealife Centres it’s partly about how much money they’re making or losing, but also when they need big capital investments. Aquariums aren’t my area of expertise, but it feels like they’d be at the more safety critical end of the Midway attractions, as you’ve got tanks containing large quantities of water, and also chemicals used for things like cleaning tanks that are safe in small quantities, but potentially dangerous in a large quantity. You’ve also got quite a bit of electrical equipment for managing the water quality, heating tanks etc. It's possible that tanks are like theme park rides in terms of having a design life, and some kind of inspection scheme.

It's not my area of expertise, but you might have a Sealife Centre that’s making a small profit, but then it needs a major overhaul and they decide to close it.
 
djtruefitt said:
It seems Scott will be leaving Merlin at the end of the year,

news.sky.com

Alton Towers and Legoland chief to leave after two years

Scott O'Neil will leave Merlin Entertainments at the end of the year, with Fiona Eastwood replacing him on an interim basis, Sky News learns.
news.sky.com news.sky.com
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We’ll never know the reasons why, but apparently he has a new role elsewhere. You’d imagine he’s on a 12 month notice period.

This is not unusual for CEOs to move on quite quick, not my personal preferred way of working as these are all long term projects. He’s come in, overseen some openings already in place, made some cuts and he’s off.

Appalling really. At the moment, I’d say the parks are probably hampered by Aramark and not owning their land. Otherwise they need long term plans and it just shows how hopefully key Bianca’s role is. Although we don’t know the internal workings on budget etc.

Interesting timing given Varneys recent appointment.
 
Ash said:
Interesting timing given Varneys recent appointment.
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Blackstone own The NEC Group, so his appointment there is not entirely a surprise. It's primarily why The Bear Grylls Adventure was situated at Resorts World in the first instance, to to try and make it a destination worth visiting for leisure all year round (and not just for concerts). Hasn't really worked.
 
Scott's legacy also established Merlin's strategy and data teams headed by the new Chief Strategy Officer which is a position not every large corporate has.

While I haven't seen this talked about much here, this team has potentially quite a lot of power and it will be interesting to see if this stays and continues to grow in the future as it has been doing. They have hired quite a few people from top global strategy consulting firms which are quite well known for cost cutting.
 
Sounds like Scott is off to manage golf, which makes a lot of sense.

It probably says something that when I read the above article was when I realised that is what Scott O'Neil looked like - not sure who I was thinking of previously, but it wasn't that chap. Either way, it says something about his lack of presence within the organisation he was charged with running. He was a bit like the opposite of Bianca.

Gut reaction is that it's probably a good move for Merlin. Hopefully now they can find someone with a bit more background in Visitor Attractions and Theme Parks. I wonder if they might be able to nab someone senior in Disney, given it's very likely we will see senior changes over there in the not distant future.
 
It's curious, but reading the press release, it may well be the only major public advancement that has occurred for Merlin during his tenure. I believe all the other projects mentioned would have been instigated under his predecessor.

So the timing is possibly a way of cushioning the announcement.
 
The question is, with Scott standing down as CEO of Merlin, who's going to take the role of CEO afterwards?
And I wonder what implications this could have for both Merlin, AT and Thorpe. Especially with Universal coming to the UK in the near future.
 
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