Here are the business stories making the headlines locally and across the UK this morning.
Ithaca appoints new CEO amid board and management shake-up
Ithaca Energy has proposed appointing Luciano Vasques as its new chief executive officer.
Vasques currently holds the role of managing director of Eni UK and led the recent acquisition and integration of Neptune Energy into Eni UK’s operations.
Former Ithaca Energy CEO Alan Bruce stepped down at the start of the year.
In addition, current executive chairman Gilad Myerson will step down to be succeeded by Dave Blackwood, who will become interim non-executive chairman, to be followed by the proposed appointment of Yaniv Friedman as executive chairman, once all formal conditions to his appointment have been satisfied.
Read the full story here.
Wee Gym location: The north-east’s largest soft play centre to open in Aberdeen
An Aberdeenshire couple have unveiled plans to open the region’s largest soft play centre.
Scott Fenwick and his wife Soumaya El Kadiri are the masterminds behind The Wee Gym, a soft play centre with a twist.
The facility will become the latest addition to the city’s Union Street when it opens its doors at number 57 this autumn.
The store was once a JJB Sports before it became the World Street Food Shack.
Italian firm Newlat to gobble up Princes
The British owner of popular food brands including Branston, Batchelors and Flora is set to be sold to an Italian group for £700m.
Newlat said that it would pay £650m in cash in addition to £50m from the sale of shares to Mitsubishi, which has owned Princes Group, one of Britain’s biggest food and drinks businesses, since 1989.
That will make the Japanese conglomerate the second largest shareholder in the enlarged company, which will be rebranded New Princes.
The sale has been in the works for some time, with the two companies nearly walking away from talks at one point in February.