Merlin Entertainments have announced that CEO Nick Varney, has informed the Board of his intention to retire. Chief Development Officer, Mark Fisher, is also to retire.
Varney says, “Merlin has been my life for most of my career. I love the people, the attractions, the visitors and the industry and I am proud to have played my part as we built Merlin into an incredible business. I know that with our amazing attractions, as well as our committed and capable people, Merlin will go from strength to strength over the coming years.”
12 month search for successor
Varney and Fisher will serve a 12 month notice period to allow for a search for successors and handover.
In a statement Merlin say that “The Board is starting a process that will consider both strong internal candidates, as well as external talent, and the Board expects that a successor will have been appointed and an orderly handover will have taken place within this period.”
“There’s just something about theme parks”
Varney joined confectionary firm Rowntree Mackintosh as an assistant brand manager in 1984, after studying at the London School of Economics. In an interview with Blooloop he said: “I went to university thinking I wanted to be prime minister and came out marketing chocolate bars.”
However in 1990, he was headhunted by Tussauds Group who were looking for an FMCG marketer for newly acquired theme park Alton Towers. An early visit to Disneyworld had left an impression: “There’s just something about theme parks”.
He went on to join Vardon Attractions as Managing Director and lead a £47 million management buyout to form Merlin Entertainments in 1999.
In the next five years Merlin grew from £7 million EBITDA to £14.5 million. Seeing the market consolidate Varney wrote what he describes as a “preposterous” strategy paper, proposing that if the company could acquire LEGOLAND and Madame Tussauds, it could utilise natural synergies and midway attractions clusters to become a global player of significant scale.
The rise and rise of Merlin
Since its formation Merlin has grown from just 19 visitor attractions to the second largest visitor attractions operator in the world after Disney. The business now comprises 140 attractions, 23 hotels and 6 holiday villages. Spanning 24 countries the group includes brands such as Legoland, SEA LIFE, Madam Tussauds, Eye and Peppa Pig.
Pre pandemic the group was know for its impressive growth with EBITDA increasing from £7 million to £569 million in 2019.
Commenting on the announcement, Roland Hernandez, Chair of Merlin Entertainments said, “I would like to thank Nick for his outstanding leadership of Merlin Entertainments over the last 23 years. He has created one of the best leisure businesses in the world through his passion, dedication, and talent. The growth has been incredible, particularly through a period of such macro change.
“He will leave Merlin in strong shape to continue creating and delivering memorable experiences to our millions of guests around the world. Nick and Mark will be in place and wholly focused for some time, and we are fortunate to have an exceptional team in place. On behalf of the Board and Shareholders, we are extremely grateful to Nick and Mark for their remarkable service to the company and wish them all the best.”
