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Merlin Entertainments: General Discussion

Bert2theSpark said:
I thought that Blackstone were minority stakeholders, as their joint ownership of the company is alongside a Canadian Pension Fund? Surely that makes the KIRKBI the majority stakeholder?

Unless the other investors are more passive and Blackstone make the strategic decisions as active investors?
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Kirkby own 30% outright (they had that already) then they formed a consortium (called Birkerley Bidco originally but now called motion acquisition) with Blackstone and CPP to buy out the rest of the shares. I don’t think it’s public how that consortium is set-up regarding control etc.
 
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This is probably just adding speculation and I'm not sure what details someone running the social channel would be privileged to but this does sound hopeful that there could be some big announcements soon. Maybe this could be the additional 2 flat rides at towers.

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The API for towers queue times does reference two other attractions (unnamed. Just numbers ) with a flag set to not display.
Could be something. Could be nothing.
 
MrTowers said:
This is probably just adding speculation and I'm not sure what details someone running the social channel would be privileged to but this does sound hopeful that there could be some big announcements soon. Maybe this could be the additional 2 flat rides at towers.

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Sound more like marketing waffle to me, pumping smoke up their own backsides.

As an attraction operator, it would be quite worrying if they didn't have future plans for attraction at their parks. This is a business that very quickly falls behind if you stand still.

Call me pessimistic, but it sounds like they are trying to make a song and dance over what is the normal in this industry. In the context of it being on the MAP page, probably motivated in trying to get more MAP sales.
 
Benjsh said:
All these parks and their staff are suffering and losing their jobs because Merlin have invested massively into 3 new Legoland Parks around the world and they have all flopped massively.
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Cough, Employers NIC changes and won’t take a hit to profits, cough
 
Dave said:
Cough, Employers NIC is almost certainly not the issue, as it only covers one territory Merlin operate in and the cuts cover the whole group and the rest of the UK economy is demonstrating job creation and wage increases at the current time….: cough
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Certainly?…
 
GooseOnTheLoose said:
Considering that the majority of the announced/confirmed layoffs are in Florida, which is part of a nation that has quite a famous refusal to pay British taxes, certainly.
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As I’ve said previous, and has been made clear by others, the layoffs are coming/have come to the UK. Unless all those “open to work” on friends profiles I keep seeing on LinkedIn are people fancying a career change. With no explanation from Merlin as to yet as to why.

Everything else is conjecture.
 
Ash said:
As I’ve said previous, and has been made clear by others, the layoffs are coming/have come to the UK. Unless all those “open to work” on friends profiles I keep seeing on LinkedIn are people fancying a career change. With no explanation from Merlin as to yet as to why.

Everything else is conjecture.
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This has been discussed elsewhere but the OBR released the employment numbers for the last three months. Unemployment has remained stable, vacancies actually increased in January (if unemployment is stable and vacancies increase that indicates more jobs being created) and private sector wages increased by 6%.

As we are within spitting distance of the NI changes coming why would employers be creating jobs in January if they are planning on getting rid again in April?

But in relation to Merlin the company is global, so claiming the cuts are due to UK tax law that only impacts employees in this country is moot.
 
Dave said:
This has been discussed elsewhere but the OBR released the employment numbers for the last three months. Unemployment has remained stable, vacancies actually increased in January (if unemployment is stable and vacancies increase that indicates more jobs being created) and private sector wages increased by 6%.

As we are within spitting distance of the NI changes coming why would employers be creating jobs in January if they are planning on getting rid again in April?

But in relation to Merlin the company is global, so claiming the cuts are due to UK tax law that only impacts employees in this country is moot.
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More than happy to accept UK tax law doesn’t apply in Florida…

Glad we’ve cleared that up.
 
Believe the redundancy process has been concluded in the UK, or at least largely so. Not sure we will ever know numbers, but could be comparable or greater than the 200 or so in Florida. It's certainly over 20, or they wouldn't have had to enter consultation.
 
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Going to be a very interesting time for Entertainment / performing arts staff in the UK industry. With Kynren, Puy du Fou and Universal all potentially coming it's going to provide plenty of opportunities across the country you'd imagine.

I'm not really a massive Show type of enthusiast really. I will go watch them if they are of an outstanding quality and we saw Kynren last summer and I have to say I was blown away. It was absolutely stunning to see what they do there. Highly recommend it especially if you're interested in history like I am.

When I see some of the stuff Blackpool and Towers have put on at times I just think 'why bother'. Either do it really well or don't bother at all for me. Always feels very tacky and cheaply done to me.
 
Has anybody seen anything regarding a partnership between Merlin and Vitality (health insurance)?

Just had a rather cryptic email from my employer (who provide Vitality health insurance), but I can't see anything online.
 
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