Business News

Ramping up support for key industries impacted by the pandemic and helping to ease the debt burden faced by many businesses are among the requests made to government in a new report released today by Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce.

Azets, the UK’s largest regional accountancy and business advisor to SMEs, with 14 offices in the Midlands, has won Accountancy Firm of the Year 2021 at the prestigious City of Birmingham Business Awards (COBBA).

The head of international business at Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce (GBCC) has been formally appointed as an executive director on the organisation’s board.

One of the fastest instigators of change in helping to eradicate homelessness has made a significant new appointment to support plans to reach 2000-bed spaces by the end of the year.

Birmingham-based, full service content marketing agency, HDY has expanded its senior team after appointing its first Client Services & Innovations Director, Naddy Onions. 

Downtown In Business (DIB) hosted its first City of Birmingham Business Awards in almost two years at the stunning The Grand Hotel – and the first in-person awards event in the country this year.

More than 80 City of Wolverhampton micro and small businesses have now completed the Council’s new Relight Business Programme thanks to over £60,000 investment so far.

Covid-19 has put a spotlight on what people consider to be their top values and life goals, as well as what is needed for a financially secure future. New research from Templeton Emerging Markets Investment Trust’s (TEMIT) Foreign to Familiar report shows that when considering what is most important to them, adults in West Midlands revealed that their health (25%), professional goals (14%), and income (10%) were top of the list.

Many also think about their finances and how they can achieve long-term financial security. When asked how they’re planning to achieve this, 29% of respondents in West Midlands said that a secure job was needed and a further 26% were focused on savings. Despite the superior long-term financial returns they can offer, only 11% said a pension was required to achieve financial security and worryingly only 8% said investments.

The stark reality for those that are focused more on savings to provide financial stability is that while there is more than £1.5tn currently sat in easy access savings accounts across the UK, these are earning a meagre interest of less than 0.39%. This means that UK savers could be missing out on more than £38bn a year in dividend income if savings were invested – the equivalent of £1,350 per household.

Andrew Ness, Portfolio Manager at Templeton Emerging Markets Investment Trust: “Covid-19 has not only made us think about what life goals we aspire to, but also how we manage our finances day-to-day, and what we need to do to achieve a financially secure future. However, many consumers are unaware of the benefits and growth opportunities of investing in emerging markets.”

When looking at investments as an option for future financial stability, only 11% of adults in West Midlands revealed they currently invest in emerging markets. This means a huge 89% are missing out on significant investment returns these markets have to offer.

“Ultimately, emerging markets can offer exciting growth opportunities and are expected to lead the global economic recovery. Indeed the Covid-19 pandemic has strengthened key trends in emerging markets: increased institutional resilience, growth of consumption, technology, innovation, and the ability for companies to "leapfrog" developed-world competitors. Awareness of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) issues has also intensified in recent years,” explained Andrew.

To put this into context, a monthly investment of £50 a month into a cash account over an 18-year period (an overall investment of £10,800) would mean an investor would have a mere £11,176. An investment into the FTSE100 over the same time period would have returned £18,987. An investment into the passively managed MSCI Emerging Markets Index would have returned £27,859, and finally an investment into the actively managed TEMIT will have returned you £33,403. That’s £22,227 more than what one would have earned in a savings account.

TEMIT’s Foreign to Familiar report, which used quantitative data Adoreboard’s cutting-edge Emotion AI analysis, looked into the emotions and perceptions consumers have when asked about emerging markets and found that many pre-existing perceptions on emerging market countries and a general lack of knowledge of these markets have a huge influence on investment decisions.

Looking into what is holding investors back from taking advantage of the growth potential in emerging markets, the research found that 13% of respondents in West Midlands currently invest money but don't invest in emerging markets, and would not or don't know if they would consider them in the future. Delving into the reasons why this is, 75% are concerned about their lack of knowledge of emerging markets, and 25% are worried about their risk of loss.

However, the same nervousness cannot be said over consumers’ product purchase choices. In fact, of those who said country of origin was not important in their product choices, when looking into the reasons why 14% said that they don’t care where the product is from, and would rather focus on the quality of goods, the selection criteria, and price. Demonstrated by the number of consumers in the UK who use emerging market products everyday (93%), whether that be a TV or washing machine made by Samsung in South Korea, or a 5G chip for their mobile phone manufactured in Taiwan, for example, consumers are inadvertently investing in emerging markets through their product choices. However, when it comes to their investments, consumers are much more hesitant about actively investing their money in emerging markets, despite the favourable returns these markets can deliver.

“Stigmas attached to emerging markets, as well as general nervousness held by investors means they are missing out on favourable investment opportunities. It’s clear that investors need more information and reassurance when it comes to emerging markets – many of which are in fact leading the way in innovation and technology – so it’s important that we highlight where the imbalance is between perception and reality to help consumers reach their financial goals,” Andrew said.

Southern Wind Group, the team behind South American rodizio brand Fazenda, is rewarding all team members with an ongoing 10% pay bonus, passing on savings from the government VAT reduction to the people pursuing careers in one of the hardest hit industries by Covid-19. As part of Westminster’s support package for hospitality, VAT rates were cut to 5% on food and non-alcoholic drinks.

The shareholders of Southern Wind Group have decided to give savings from this back to all team members, including chefs, front-of-house staff and managers, as a thank you for their commitment, loyalty and hard work in successfully opening the restaurants. The first payment of the VAT Bonus Scheme went into June’s paycheque and will see the Fazenda teams all receive an extra 10% in their salaries every month until the end of September – a bonus that will also be added for any new starters joining Fazenda as the restaurants reopen fully.

All employees, from managers to service staff, have worked relentlessly to ensure that each Fazenda site reopened following lockdown. The decision to pass these savings on to the team was an easy one, with the chief executive and managing director visiting each restaurant upon reopening to personally thank the teams in place.

Southern Wind Group hopes its decision to boost wages helps their people recover financially from the impact of the pandemic, as food and beverage looks to bounce back following an uncertain 12 months. More than ever, career paths in hospitality need to be celebrated and the VAT Bonus Scheme is a way to shine a spotlight on the sector.

Fazenda currently has restaurants in Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Edinburgh and Birmingham, with further expansion plans lined up for the next 12 months. The restaurant brand employs more than 330 people across its five sites, all of which are eligible for the VAT Bonus Scheme.

Terence Langley, chief executive at Southern Wind Group, said: “The teams we have across the UK are the reason we have been able to build our brand and such a great reputation. From first walking through the doors, to making drinks, cooking the food and serving our guests, our teams are the lifeblood of Fazenda.”

Managing director for the group, Tomás Maunier, said: “Whilst the past 12 months have been hard, we now want to look to a positive future. We want to use our VAT Bonus Scheme as a thank you to our team for their dedication, and as an assurance that we are committed to helping them as best we can.

“Hospitality is integral to our economy and our lifestyles, and we want to make sure people are rewarded, and that it remains an attractive career choice for so many.”

hmv is set to open a new store at Solihull-based shopping centre, Mell Square, on the entertainment retailer’s 100^th birthday.

The 4,500 sq ft store, which creates eight new jobs for the local area, arrives on 20^th July, 100 years since the very first hmv store opened its doors to the public. The first 100 customers will receive a goodie bag, but all will be able to take advantage of amazing in-store offers, including:

·         Two-for-£40 on best-selling vinyl titles

·         20% off high-definition Blu-Ray and 4K film and TV

·         hmv’s Century of Music and Film promotions, showcasing the best of the past 100 years

·         Great savings across the technology range, with up to half price on headphones and turntables

In addition, hmv’s highly anticipated 1921 Centenary Edition vinyl will be on sale in store from 24^th July. The collection of some of the retailer’s favourite albums from the past 100 years includes Sam Smith’s acclaimed debut album “In the Lonely Hour”, Kate Bush’s “Hounds of Love”, Dolly Parton’s “The Very Best of” and The Star Wars Trilogy’s Original Soundtrack.

Local customers can also look forward to pop-culture must haves, with exclusive t-shirts, sweet treats and collectable figurines, alongside an extensive range of over 5,000 vinyl LPs, collector’s edition Blu-Ray and 4K Ultra HD titles for film and TV lovers, with a great selection of classic turntables and the latest headphones too. Solihull shoppers can also take advantage of hmv’s brand-new “hmv delivers” service, allowing customers to order any items not in store to be delivered direct to their door.

Claire Preston, Store Manager, said: “We’re very glad to be back in Solihull, and look forward to welcoming everyone to the new hmv shop.” hmv Managing Director, Phil Halliday, said: “As we celebrate our 100th anniversary, we’re excited to offer music, film and TV fans in Solihull the chance to browse our incredible range and take advantage of amazing in-store offers.”

Councillor Ian Courts, Leader of Solihull Council, (which now owns Mell Square), said: “It’s great that such a well-known brand as hmv is returning to Mell Square with a new store. It shows that Solihull is still a good place to do business, remains attractive to retailers and I am confident they will not be the last to invest in the town. It also seems auspicious that the store will open on hmv’s 100th birthday, especially for the first 100 customers! I wish hmv and their new staff all the best for this new venture and look forward to other retailers joining them in the future.”

The store’s opening hours are:

·         Monday – Saturday: 9am-5.30pm

·         Sunday: 10.30am-4.30pm

The Office for National Statistics published a detailed report on the full impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the hospitality sector. The responses of 4 small business owners in the sector are below.

Kate Allen, owner at luxury holiday lettings company, Salcombe Finest: "The hospitality sector is definitely starting to recover but the major challenge for all the businesses in it is the frankly ludicrous Test and Trace app. This ill-thought out and expensive piece of tech is screwing us over and kicking us down just as we were starting to get up. We have team members dropping like flies and it is simply unsustainable. It's no surprise the app is being deleted in the hospitality industry faster than a U2 album on iTunes. Coastal hospitality businesses make between 70% to 80% of their annual turnover in the next six weeks during the school holidays. If the app isn’t abolished right now, our window of opportunity will be gone."

Craig Bunting, owner of Derby-based coffee shop, Bear: "We've reached Freedom Day but for most businesses in the hospitality sector the Test and Trace app is an outright farce. It's destroying us, just as we are getting back to our feet. While various Government schemes have provided a degree of support to hospitality businesses, the cost of the pandemic is still immense, both financially and psychologically. We now have to bounce back mentally exhausted and saddled with debt."

Jo Ferreday, director of Market Harborough-based events company, Sheer Edge: "The pandemic has changed the way that all businesses operate, but the hospitality and events sector has most definitely been one of the hardest hit. In March 2020 I wondered how on earth our 5-year old business would survive, given that 90% of the revenue we generated at the time was through corporate hospitality booking and event support services, which evaporated overnight. Fortunately, we adapted and were able to support our clients in their transition to running events virtually. The main theme in the hospitality and events sector right now is the shift to hybrid events, a model that is likely to remain popular in the short to medium term, as the uncertainty generated by new Covid-19 variants lingers."

Maddy Alexander-Grout, founder of the Southampton-based small retail business national discount scheme, My VIP Card: "I'm not sure the hospitality sector will ever be the same again. It has been turned inside out by the pandemic and it will take years for the scars to heal. Many of the businesses we support are within the hospitality sector and their experience of the past 16 or so months has been brutal. Even though the economy is now open, there is still a lot of caution among the public and this will prevent a rapid recovery for hospitality businesses. There's a long road ahead."

Boris Johnson’s speech in Coventry today demonstrated little in terms of substance, a leading academic has said, suggesting that ‘real levelling up would require a 'Solidarity Tax' on London and the South East’.

Economist, Professor Alex de Ruyter, Director of the Centre for Brexit Studies at Birmingham City University, expert said: “Boris Johnson’s speech in Coventry today demonstrated little of substance in terms of concrete measures to support levelling-up; Rather he chose to frame the debate in terms of local leadership being the “ketchup of catch-up.

“The Prime Minister has ignored the deep structural inequalities in the UK economy that have been exacerbated by spending cuts to public services over the past 10 years. Indeed, real levelling up would require a Solidarity Tax on London and the South-East of England.

“If Johnson is serious about learning from the German reunification experience then he should raise a Solidarity Tax like Germany has done to ‘level up’ the East of the country over a thirty-year period. In the UK this could be the imposition of a Land Value Tax that would preponderantly affect the South of England.”

In 2019, Germany raised €19.1bn. Scaled for the UK’s economy, that’s very roughly the equivalent of £12bn every single year for the next 30 years – a total of £360,000,000,000. This is the kind of order of magnitude about which we must be talking.

“In addition to this, Germany has state governments (Länder) that have significant powers independent of the Federal Government and they are entitled to a share of VAT and income tax. German states control their own stamp duty.”

New data from Centre for Cities’ High Streets Recovery Tracker shows that the recovery of high streets stuttered in June as footfall fell back across the UK – raising concerns about the UK economy’s bounce-back from Covid restrictions.

Seaside and tourist destinations saw the sharpest drops in visitor numbers between the end of May and end of June, with visitors to central Blackpool and Bournemouth falling by almost half. Meanwhile, weekend visitors to other tourist destinations such as Brighton, York and Edinburgh also fell steeply.

Overall weekly footfall numbers fell by the end of June in 62 of the 63 city and town centres studied. On average, overall footfall in large city and town centres fell by seven percentage points.

Pubs, bars and restaurants are also likely to have taken an economic hit as night-time visitors to city and town centres fell by six percentage points between the last weekend of May and last weekend of June.

Despite the fall, small and medium city and town centres continue to have seen the strongest recovery overall since restrictions were lifted, while bigger cities continue to struggle. Southend, Blackpool and Basildon have come back strongest, with footfall being more than 70 per cent of February 2020 levels but London and other large city centres lag a long way behind – footfall in the centre of the capital was at just under a third of February 2020 levels.

Centre for Cities’ Chief Executive Andrew Carter said: “Much discussion in the lead up to restrictions being lifted was about the amount of pent up demand that lockdowns had created, and the likely splurge in spending as a result. But while there was an initial jump, the data suggests this may have faltered.

“The weather and growing Covid-19 cases may be reasons for this, but with the end of the furlough scheme is in sight, high street businesses and workers will be hoping that the removal of restrictions on 19^th July will help to sustain the high street’s recovery and bring more people back to the centre of our cities.”

On 19^th July national law firm Clarke Willmott LLP will move their Birmingham office from Edmund Street to a new location at Colmore Row. The new office has been designed by the firm to support their future growth as well as their plans for, and commitment to, full flexible working for staff.

Stephen Rosser, Chief Executive at Clarke Willmott, said: “Our Birmingham office move comes at a really exciting time for the firm and for the team in Birmingham specifically. Prior to the pandemic we had plans for Birmingham including a more flexible use of our office space, but in the last 16 months we have learnt so much that we have been able to be more adventurous with our plans.

“Our lawyers and support staff have delivered at higher levels than ever before and have communicated their desire to work flexibly in future. We will deliver this for them and our Birmingham team is leading our move in this direction.”

Rayner Grice the firm’s Head of Office in Birmingham has led the new office project. “Over 90% of our staff have told us via our surveys that they want to work flexibly going forward and this has given me freedom to design our new office for that purpose,” explained Grice.

“Staff who prefer and want to work in the office can do so. Staff who want to dip in and out as their needs change are also accommodated. By using a desk booking system and having created a space with a full range of work environments from private booths through to a business lounge, our people can collaborate with one another, socialise or work quietly on confidential matters.

“Every staff member has different preferences, but our aim is to accommodate everyone in such a way that they can do their best work for our clients. Clarke Willmott were advised by property consultants Harris Lamb and their support across all property matters was invaluable in enabling us to secure this excellent new location.”

Returning to the subject of growth Rosser further commented: “We continue to see Birmingham and the Midlands as an important and vibrant growth region and we want to play our part.

“Our big challenge is to continue to attract the highest calibre lawyers to work with our excellent clients. The door of our new office is very much open for great people who are attracted to our culture and our commitment to flexible working supporting individual work and lifestyles.

“At the end of what has been a challenging year for everyone, this office move and redesign is a great opportunity for us all.” Clarke Willmott will move to 7 Colmore Row from 19^th July.

The firm operates a full range of legal services. In Birmingham Clarke Willmott has partners covering Commercial Property, Construction, Corporate & Commercial Law, Employment Law, Commercial Litigation, Insolvency, Family Law, Private Client Services and Clinical Negligence & Serious Injury Law.

Clarke Willmott is a national law firm with offices in Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Manchester, London, Southampton and Taunton.

The recently appointed chair of Homes England Peter Freeman is the latest high-profile speaker to be confirmed for the Dib Parliamentary Reception to be held on the evening of Monday October 18 at the Palace of Westminster.

Freeman is co-founder of the property developer Argent and is well known as one of the visionaries behind the revival of Kings Cross, as well as major developments in Birmingham and Manchester.
He will be joined at the event by the speaker of the House, Lindsay Hoyle MP and the Transport Minister for HS2 Andrew Stephenson MP.
DIB boss Frank McKenna said: “I am delighted Peter has agreed to join us for what promises to be a fantastic evening. As chair of Homes England, he will paly a crucial role in the regeneration agenda over the next three years.
“We are expecting a couple of dozen parliamentarians to attend the event, and it provides a great opportunity for our members to connect with MPs and Lords from across the political parties. I am sure it will be a great night.”

Plans to transform a depot site into a zero-carbon development with a majority of brand-new council homes has moved a step closer. On a mission to decarbonise Haringey by 2041, the Cabinet approved the appointment of an architect to progress the design of the project on Tuesday July 13.
 
The brand new zero carbon homes will contribute to the borough’s first major council house building programme in a generation and responds directly to the climate emergency declared by the council in 2019. The current proposal is for 60 per cent of the accommodation at the eco-friendly development in Tottenham to be let at council rents, with 65 per cent of these made up of three-bedroom properties.  
 
As well as dramatically reducing each households’ carbon footprint, the high-quality homes will be cheaper to run – tackling ever increasing energy costs and offering tenants more financial freedom. The building at the Ashley Road Depot site will be surrounded by lots of open space and complement the major improvements planned for Down Lane Park.  
 
The local area will also be enhanced by better integration with neighbouring homes, open spaces and new town centre emerging at Tottenham Hale. The scheme offers the potential to build 298 homes in total after the current leaseholders, Veolia, move to a new site at Marsh Lane, N17, due to take place before January 2022. 
 
The council will fully engage with the community on any plans for the site with Haringey Council’s Cabinet Member for House Building, Placemaking and Development, Councillor Ruth Gordon, saying: “Sustainable projects such as this are exactly the type of housing development we need in the borough.
 
“Not only does it mean we are able to provide much needed high-quality council homes for local families, but the eco-friendly nature of the development will help us deliver on our ambition to become a zero-carbon borough. I’m also very pleased that the scheme will provide welcome and precious open space for new tenants and the surrounding community.”