Business News

An alarming 60% of employees reportedly feel disengaged from their workplace – amidst companies struggling to form a post-pandemic work culture which is fit for a hybrid world.

According to findings from a Robert Walters poll, the UK is facing a ‘Disengagement Crisis’ with almost half of white-collar workers claiming that their workplace has become unrecognisable in the past 12 months – with high staff turnover (54%), less people coming into the office (49%), and a subsequent decline in team socials (43%) being the main drivers.

Below is a readout and quotes following the Prime Minister, Chancellor and Business Secretary’s roundtable with the electricity sector this morning.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: “Countries around the world are feeling the impact of Putin’s damaging war in Ukraine. We know that this will be a difficult winter for people across the UK, which is why we are doing everything we can to support them and must continue to do so.

An international car parts firm which has recently expanded its operations in the borough received a visit last week from the Mayor of Dudley. Dudley’s first citizen, Councillor Sue Greenaway, visited the new Herth+Buss factory in Pensnett as part of the Made in Dudley Borough initiative.

Two old school friends, who took on high-profile entrepreneurs in the Dragons’ Den twice, are setting their sights on a £500,000 sales return for their new eco-friendly solution to serving up sauce. Ian Worton and Peter Neath are confident that Saucestream is going to prove a big hit with green-minded consumers after it saw an initial spike in online and Amazon orders.

The Chancellor's response to ONS (Office for National Statistics) July inflation statistics - Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi said: “I understand that times are tough, and people are worried about increases in prices that countries around the world are facing. 

Trade shows or business exhibitions were once the gold standard in marketing for lots of companies. They represented a chance to showcase your business to thousands of people across a few days. Many attendees would cross the threshold and walk around these large exhibition stores, taking all the stands in. 

A survey among Birmingham residents questioning what the houses of the future will have to help reach net zero showed that 44% thought solar panels to generate electricity should feature, 39% would have rainwater collection devices and 31% would have electric vehicle charging points. Gadgets to help with landfill waste came in at 4th with 29% and heat pumps came in at 5th with over 27% of those surveyed thinking they would be useful for a house of the future to help with the environment.

Corporate Finance and Real Estate Advisory firm Harrogate International Advisory based in Liverpool and with offices in Birmingham have today announced that they have secured a multimillion pound funding line from a Private Family Office, which will be known as ‘Harrogate Private Property Fund’.

The Multi-Million pound fund will be utilised for real estate projects in the UK and will focus on Bridging Finance, Mezzanine and Equity within the property sectors in residential and commercial developments.

Outline planning approval has been granted for City of Wolverhampton Council’s redevelopment of the city’s wholesale market site to facilitate the first phase of the Brewers Yard city centre living scheme.

Computer generated images show what the new Hickman Avenue market could look like. The scheme is designed to accommodate the Council’s fleet services operation, which is due to relocate from its current Culwell Street depot to pave the way for hundreds of new homes as part of the Brewers Yard regeneration masterplan.

Global travel prices are predicted to continue to increase in the remaining months of 2022 and throughout 2023, according to the 2023 Global Business Travel Forecast, published today by CWT, the B2B4E travel management platform, and the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA), the voice of the global business travel industry. 

Lesters has announced it has invested £100,000 into the opening of a second warehouse to help it cope with a 120% increase in orders.

The large packaging specialist, which has recently recruited 15 new staff, has fitted out the 25,000 sq ft facility near its headquarters in Burntwood with flexible racking options meaning it has enough space to store over 2000 pallets.

An iconic Bodmin Moor pub immortalised by Daphne du Maurier has been sold. The pub, the Jamaica Inn, was sold for a reported £8 million to the Coaching Inn Group, who purchased the property from Allen Jackson.

The 18th-Century, 36-bedroom coaching inn near the A30, was immortalised in her best-selling novel of the same name as a place where wreckers and smugglers would come to dispose of their goods and try to avoid the excise men.

Birmingham legal and professional services group Ampa has announced 16% growth in its latest year-end results – before factoring in its two recent mergers.

In its 2021/22 financial results, the group – which includes full-service law firm for life and business Shakespeare Martineau, consumer champion law firm Lime Solicitors, planning consultancy Marrons Planning, uninsured loss recovery experts Corclaim and cyber security consultancy CSS Assure – has, for the first time, broken the £80 million turnover milestone, publishing a year-end result of £80.4 million.

Island Global Yachting LLC, known as IGY Marinas, is being acquired by MarineMax, Inc., the world’s largest recreational boat and yacht retailer. IGY Marinas owns and operates a collection of 23 iconic marina assets and a yacht management platform in key global yachting destinations, including St. Lucia, St. Maarten, St. Thomas, and Turks and Caicos in the Caribbean.

Members of the pubic have less than a week left to vote for Birmingham as the new national headquarters for Great British Railways (GBR). Public voting to help choose the town or city that will be crowned the home of Britain’s railways officially ends on Monday 15^th August, with a final decision being made by the Government later in the year.

A Black Country manufacturer that has its products installed in the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, The Shard and Birmingham’s iconic Rotunda building has posted a record year. Isaac H. Grainger’s, which is a market leader in the manufacture of raised access flooring pedestals, has seen a rise in sales after securing a surge of reshoring successes from abroad.