PROFILE
MAGIC MERLIN
From small beginnings, Merlin Entertainments has become a hugely successful global brand, floating on the London Stock Exchange last November at a value of £3.5bn. We look at the company’s meteoric growth since 1999 and talk to CEO Nick Varney about the future
INTERVIEW
Nick Varney CEO, Merlin Entertainments
How did you feel immediately after the IPO of Merlin? Standing on the balcony at the London Stock Exchange, with the clock count- ing down, was a very emotional moment. Naturally, we were all delighted with the response from investors and the media. We were a private-equity owned com-
pany for 14 years, which was brilliant, as no other funding model could have helped us develop the business in the way that we have. But I always believed it was our destiny to become a public com- pany. We’ve never made a secret of the fact that we wanted to be market leader.
Did it go the way you expected? It has pretty much been reported as a textbook IPO. We were nine times over- subscribed at the price we floated at, and the value of those shares rose by around 10 per cent shortly after launch. That’s where it should be.
30 Varney says two-thirds of his time will still be focused on the core business and new projects
Some people tried to talk us out of COMPANY FACTS
n Based in the UK, in Poole, Dorset n 22,000 (including seasonal) employees worldwide
n 59.8 million visitors worldwide in 2013
n 3 Operating Groups – Resort Theme Parks, Midway and LEGOLAND Parks – all supported by the Merlin Magic Making creative team
n 100 attractions, 10 hotels and 3 holiday villages in 22 different countries, on 4 continents
You don’t want the share price to rise
so quickly that it looks as though the shares were undervalued – neither do you want them to be overpriced. I think we were well advised.
Read Attractions Management online
attractionsmanagement.com/digital
What are the other benefits to Merlin becoming a public company? The general public are very familiar with our brands – but they may not have
AM 1 2014 ©Cybertrek 2014
having a retail offer because of the huge administrative burden it entails. But this is a company that people really want to own shares in – we sold 12.5 per cent to the general public.
Will the floatation change the business? Day to day not at all – it’s business as usual. The important thing is that it will enable us to focus on long-term owner- ship and investment in our brands. With private equity backing, there’s always a shorter term view, with businesses being bought and sold every three to five years. If we’re investing $200m in a new Legoland park, for example, we really require a much longer-term perspective.
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