Black Country news and blogs Monday 27 January 2014
BusinessDesk
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Business
WM businesses optimistic about job creation 
Duncan Tift BusinessDesk 28 Feb 11
Businesses in the West Midlands are the most optimistic outside London about their job creation prospects, new research shows…
Business
National Express set for £5m hit to bus services
Duncan Tift BusinessDesk 25 Feb 11
Transport group National Express has said it expects to take a £5m hit to its bus revenue next year as a result of the Government cutting a grant to bus operators…
Business
Walsall ceramics firm prepares to wow National Gallery
Duncan Tift BusinessDesk 25 Feb 11
A Walsall arts business has secured a major coup after learning its work is to be displayed at the National Gallery in London…
Business
Parkhill Estates breaks ground on major Darlaston regen site
Duncan Tift BusinessDesk 25 Feb 11
Ground testing works are to start on a major reclamation project in Walsall that could eventually lead to the creation of thousands of new jobs…
Business
AWM submits asset disposal plan to Government
Duncan Tift BusinessDesk 24 Feb 11
Advantage West Midlands has submitted its proposals for the disposal of the £400m of assets under its control to the Department for Business Innovation and Skills…
Business
National Express sees big improvement in profits
Duncan Tift BusinessDesk 24 Feb 11
National Express made a 38% improvement in pre-tax profits last year with the transport group claiming the recovery was ahead of schedule…
Business
JLR parent Tata in talks with Chinese firm
Duncan Tift BusinessDesk 22 Feb 11
Jaguar Land Rover parent Tata Motors is in talks with a Chinese sport utility vehicle maker regarding a possible assembly agreement, reports have claimed…
Business
Chiltern delays launch of super-fast Mainline service to London
Dunccan Tift BusinessDesk 18 Feb 11
Chiltern Railways is to delay the launch of its much heralded Mainline service between Birmingham and London following fears about overrunning engineering works disrupting services…
Business
AWM reveals its assets sell-off plan
Duncan Tift BusinessDesk 16 Feb 11
Advantage West Midlands has published details of how it intends to dispose of £400m of assets ahead of its closure next year…
Business
Walsall heads region’s shop vacancy rates
Tamlyn Jones BusinessDesk 16 Feb 11
Walsall tops the list of towns and cities in the West Midlands for the highest percentage of vacant shop units, according to new research…
Business
West Midlands economy shows dramatic improvement in January
Duncan Tift BusinessDesk 14 Feb 11
The economy of the West Midlands saw a dramatic improvement in January with a marked expansion in both output and new orders plus the strong rise in employment since the summer…
Business
HomeServe on course for customer growth
Tamlyn Jones BusinessDesk 11 Feb 11
Walsall-based domestic repair firm HomeServe said today it was on course to achieve a 3-4% growth in customer numbers by the end of 2011…
Business
St Modwen enjoys return to profit
Tamlyn Jones BusinessDesk 7 Feb 11
Regeneration specialist St Modwen Properties has seen a dramatic turnaround in its fortunes, according to its yearly results published today…
Business
Midlands insolvencies fall year-on-year but rise from previous quarter
Duncan Tift BusinessDesk 4 Feb 11
Business administrations in the Midlands declined by more than the English average during the final quarter of 2010 when compared with 2009, new research has suggested…
Business
Chuckery company swoops on assets of failed Wednesbury door maker
Duncan Tift BusinessDesk 4 Feb 11
Walsall engineering group Chamberlin has expanded with the acquisition of certain assets and the intellectual property of doors firm Jebron Ltd for £160,000…
Business
Planning reform in the sights of Black Country LEP
BusinessDesk 2 Feb 11
Reform of ‘bureacratic and expensive’ planning laws is one of the top priorities of the Black Country Local Enterprise board, says its chairman, Stewart Towe…
Business
Black Country businesses staying positive on growth
Duncan Tift BusinessDesk 31 Jan 11
Businesses in the Black Country are confident of achieving growth of between 1 – 1.5% over the next 12 months, despite gloomy GDP figures which show the economy contracting…
Business
Willenhall logistics firm secures seven figure contract
BusinessDesk 27 Jan 11
Willenhall logistics firm Nightfreight has secured an exclusive two-year contract with a major automotive supplier to distribute its products to its UK customers…
Business
WM organisations play a waiting game as RGF bids are considered
Duncan Tift BusinessDesk 26 Jan 11
Organisations aiming to secure money from the Government through its new Regional Growth Fund have submitted almost 450 applications in the first round of bidding for a share of the £1.4bn pot…
Business
Will manufacturing be the West Midlands’ economic saviour?
Duncan Tift BusinessDesk 26 Jan 11
Manufacturers in the West Midlands are clinging to the hope that the revival in the sector in an otherwise gloomy economy could throw the region a lifeline as it struggles to recover from recession…
Business
Coalition fails to match spending cuts with growth policies – Lambert
James Reed BusinessDesk 25 Jan 11
The Coalition Government has failed to match its spending cuts with policies that support growth, according to the outgoing director-general of the CBI…
Business
Trinity Mirror resurrects free Birmingham newspaper
Tamlyn Jones BusinessDesk 25 Jan 11
Free newspaper Birmingham Post Lite will return to residents’ doormats this week following a month-long hiatus…
Business
West Midlands wealthiest are getting richer – report
Marc Reeves BusinessDesk 20 Jan 11
The richest people in the West Midlands increased their wealth by £1bn over the past year, according to the annual Rich List report…
Business
Trinity Mirror suspends publication of Birmingham newspaper
BusinessDesk 20 Jan 11
The Birmingham Post Lite, a free newspaper circulated in the suburbs of Birmingham, has been suspended before it reached its first birthday…
Business
Jaguar Land Rover success drives supply chain growth
Duncan Tift BusinessDesk 14 Jan 11
Jaguar Land Rover’s strong sales performance is a major boost to the West Midlands automotive supply chain, one of its leading advocates has claimed…
Business
Interest rates held again by Bank of England
James Graham BusinessDesk 13 Jan 11
The Bank of England opted to hold the base interest rate at 0.5% again today…
Business
WM firms braced for cuts
Marc Reeves BusinessDesk 13 Jan 11
State of the Region
Businesses in the West Midlands are more worried about the impact on the economy of Government cuts than their counterparts in other regions…
Business
Lack of clarity on LEPs
Tamlyn Jones BusinessDesk 12 Jan 11
State of the Region
Not a single business person in the West Midlands is prepared to claim they fully understand the future role of the new Local Enterprise Partnerships…
Business
Spotlight cast on Walsall’s regeneration potential
BusinessDesk 12 Jan 11
Regeneration opportunities in Walsall are under the microscope later this month at a business breakfast networking event…
Business
Half of firms expecting to recruit in 2011
Duncan Tift BusinessDesk 11 Jan 11
State of the Region
Almost half of businesses in the West Midlands expect to take on new staff during 2011 as the drive to sustain the region’s growth following recession continues…
Business
Willenhall engineering firm sold for £27m
Marc Reeves BusinessDesk 11 Jan 11
Willenhall engineering firm, Niagara Lasalle (UK) Ltd, has been bought for £27m by Endless LLP in the turnaround specialist’s second major acquisition in as many days…
Business
Localism agenda ‘threatens innovation’
Marc Reeves BusinessDesk 10 Jan 11
The man who described new Local Enterprise Partnerships as ‘puddles ’ that were too small to be effective has turned his sights on the Government’s Localism agenda…
Business
Austerity measures won’t stop WM growth
Tamlyn Jones BusinessDesk 10 Jan 11
State of the Region
The economic outlook for the West Midlands during 2011 appears rosy with plenty of business confidence that both revenues and staff numbers will grow…
Business
New car sales rise in 2010 but tough 2011 predicted for auto industry
Duncan Tift BusinessDesk 7 Jan 11
Sales of new cars rose by 1.8% in 2010 but the last minute rush by consumers to buy vehicles ahead of this month’s VAT rise failed to materialise as sales dropped 18% in December compared with 2009, latest figures show…
Business
LEP summit to reveal extra funding plans
James Graham BusinessDesk 6 Jan 11
The Government is planning to hold a summit for Local Enterprise Partnership chiefs in the spring when it will also reveal details of extra funding available to the new bodies…
Business
Boost for pubs as minister pledges ‘restrictive covenants’ review
BusinessDesk 5 Jan 11
The future of closed community pubs has been given a boost after the Government pledged to review the rule on ‘restrictive covenants’…
Business
Crucial business project under threat with demise of AWM
Duncan Tift BusinessDesk 29 Dec 10
The future of a project designed to retain highly successful companies in the West Midlands is under threat following the abolition of regional development agency Advantage West Midlands…
News
Government backs Walsall technical college with £9.5m
Duncan Tift BusinessDesk 24 Dec 10
Government approval for a new £9.5m technical college in Walsall has been welcomed by council and academic leaders in the borough…
Business
Walsall’s Event Hire caps off year at Sports Personality awards
BusinessDesk 21 Dec 10
A Walsall event specialist has capped off the year by supplying equipment for 2010 BBC Sports Personality of the Year Awards…
Business
Jaguar Land Rover parent snaps up British Salt
Chris Barry BusinessDesk 20 Dec 10
British Salt, the Cheshire-based salt producer has been sold to Jaguar Land Rover parent Tata Group in a deal worth more than £100m…
Business
Business Link announces 145 redundancies
Duncan Tift BusinessDesk 17 Dec 10
Almost 150 staff at business support organisation Business Link West Midlands (BLWM) have been issued with redundancy notices heralding the formal demise of the body…
Business
Business leaders hail decision on Black Country LEP
Duncan Tift BusinessDesk 14 Dec 10
Business leaders in the Black Country have welcomed the Government’s decision to give formal approval to a new Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) for the area. There had been widespread pessimism in October when the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills rejected the area’s initial bid but approved one for neighbouring Birmingham…
Business
Future of planning could be in the hands of NIMBYs
BusinessDesk 15 Dec 10
Not In My Back Yard
The Government’s plans to give greater control over certain planning issues to local people could be placing the property industry into the hands of NIMBYs…
Business
AWM pledges to contiune managing £400m of assets
BusinessDesk 1 Dec 10
Advantage West Midlands has pledged to continue managing the £400m portfolio of assets currently under its control until the agency closes in a year’s time…
Business
Nightfreight drives ahead under new CEO
BusinessDesk 23 Nov 10
Willenhall-based supply chain specialist Nightfreight has appointed Ian Smith as chief executive as part of sweeping plans for continued business growth…
Business
Chamberlin results underline manufacturing resurgence
Marc Reeves BusinessDesk 24 Nov 10
Chuckery foundry and manufacturer Chamberlin has returned to profit, and is starting to see its order book return to pre-recession levels…
Business
HomeServe reports rising revenues and profits
BusinessDesk 23 Nov 10
Walsall based emergency repairs business HomeServe has reported a 19% rise in revenues and double digit profit growth in its half yearly report…
Business
Automotive sector cheered by strong output figures
Duncan Tift BusinessDesk 19 Nov 10
The UK automotive industry has received welcome news with an announcement that UK car production rose by 6% last month, while in the year to date the figure has increased by 31% when compared with last year…
Business
Social Enterprise could save WM public services
Duncan Tift BusinessDesk 17 Nov 10
Hundreds of public sector amenities across the West Midlands could be saved from closure if Social Enterprises were allowed to take them over, the sector has said…
Business
Birmingham newspapers collapsed owing £343k
BusinessDesk 17 Nov 10
The publishing company behind the now defunct Birmingham Press collapsed owing £343,186, including £145,000 to its founder and director Chris Bullivant…