Business News

Politicians, businessmen and women, local leaders and prominent community figures were all in attendance last night at the Birmingham Conference & Events Centre for a Dinner with Andy Street. The former Managing Director of John Lewis was the man of the moment as he set out his stall as the Conservative candidate for West Midlands Mayor for the upcoming election, due to take place on May 4th.

Businesses from every sector across Birmingham have united in support of this summer’s big free art event – The Big Sleuth. From travel and hospitality to education and professional services, the best of Birmingham has pledged its support for the highly-anticipated sequel to The Big Hoot, which attracted more than 800,000 visitors in 2015 and raised over £625,000 in total for Birmingham Children’s Hospital Charity.

Award-winning UK bus operator, Arriva, has chosen Corethree to develop its latest mobile ticketing application in response to customer demand and to create a quicker, safer and easier method of payment when purchasing bus tickets. With new payment solutions such as Apple Pay, Android Pay and PayPal, the technology was developed by leading mobile ticketing solutions provider, Corethree and allows passengers to select from a wide range of ticket options including Day, Weekly, 4-Weekly and Annual Saver tickets and pay through the application, eradicating the need for cash and loose change.

Professionals who overclaim on their business expenses could be costing the UK economy a massive £1.6bn a year, that’s according to a new report from Britain’s largest provider of fuel card solutions, Allstar Business Solutions. The study, which questioned 1,000 working professionals, revealed that 36% of drivers have overclaimed mileage and 17% of employees deliberately overclaim on all of their business expenses each month, whilst a further 41% felt there wasn’t anything wrong with doing so, despite it being illegal.

The Black Country Chamber of Commerce are pleased to announce Forces Recruitment Services (West Midlands) as the latest member to join The Platinum Group Service Sector. Set up by ex-Army sergeant, Paul Lewis, FRS (West Midlands) specialises in placing ex-Military candidates into Civilian Employment. Having 21 years Army service history, Paul has a wealth of experience, knowledge and skills that enable him to deliver exceptional service to employers, whilst providing unrivalled support to candidates.

Progress towards building up to 146 new homes on the former Wolverhampton Bus Depot is now underway. Representatives of the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) and the City of Wolverhampton Council gathered at the site to mark the start of demolition and remediation of the former bus depot to make way for up to 146 new homes.

Entries are flying in for the first annual Wolverhampton Independent Retail Excellence (WIRE) Awards. In the first fortnight since nominations opened eight businesses have made 24 submissions across 11 categories. Entries to the WIRE Awards can be made at www.wireawards.co.uk.  The awards, commissioned by the Leader of City of Wolverhampton Council, Councillor Roger Lawrence, are being led by Wolverhampton Business Improvement District (BID) in partnership with the city council.

The multi-million pound renovation of Hornsey Town Hall and square – including a new arts and community centre and careful restoration of the historic Grade II* listed building – has been guaranteed. Haringey Council’s agreement with developers FEC, which has now been signed, secures the future of the iconic landmark in the heart of Crouch End, with:

Three new categories have been added to this year’s annual Birmingham Chamber awards and dinner, which is a sell-out event with over 1,000 guests attending. The new categories are ‘Excellence in Manufacturing’, ‘Excellence in Sales and Marketing’ and ‘Business of the Year’. The latter will be drawn from the winners of the other seven categories. The new awards will be presented for the first time at the awards and dinner on 30 March at the ICC, at which the host will again be broadcaster Gyles Brandreth, back by popular demand.

City of Wolverhampton Council’s cabinet will meet next week to finalise budget proposals for the coming financial year after almost 2,600 people had their say in a public consultation. The Cabinet is expected to agree to set a balanced budget without the need to use contingency reserves for the third year running as the council sticks to its robust plan to manage Central Government cuts at the same time as a growing demand for services.

Last summer, Princess Cruises teamed up with popular Instagram photographer, Paperboyo. Princess Cruises invited Paperboyo onto Royal Princess for a cruise around the Mediterranean to take some of his unique photographs onboard and in destination. The photos will be posted on the Princess Cruises (@princesscruises) and Paperboyo (@paperboyo) Instagram pages over the next five days with the first appearing today.

The Black Country Chamber of Commerce have identified that there are limited opportunities for young people in education to become involved in their local business community in a meaningful way. Young people have an important contribution to make, and it is important that there is an effective mechanism in place for ensuring their views are heard on areas such as careers development, the economic environment and Chamber activities as the employees, business people and consumer market of the future.

Keen home cooks, chefs, and food buyers are being urged to head to the Wimbledon and Queens Park Farmers Markets to meet with the team behind groLOCAL, creators of urban and hydroponic farm equipment. With a huge variety of home grown exotic micro-greens, spices, and herbs on offer, food lovers will have the chance to sample a range of delights at the market and pick up some seasoning to give their kitchen creations some added flavour.

British Airways is to start flying from Birmingham Airport again with the launch of four new summer-only routes to popular European sunspots. From May the airline will begin direct flights from Birmingham to the popular Spanish destinations of Malaga, Ibiza and Palma and to the Italian city of Florence. They will operate on modern 98-seat Embraer 190 jet aircraft, with spacious cabins and two abreast seating so every customer can have an aisle or window seat.

The Asian Business Chamber of Commerce in Birmingham is marking International Women’s Day by holding its own celebration at Warwickshire County Cricket Clubs’ Edgbaston Stadium to recognize the progress that has been made to inspire women and to celebrate their achievements. In the presence of Special Guest Speakers; multi-award winning BBC broadcaster and current Chair of Performances Birmingham Limited, Anita Bhalla OBE and communications expert Farzana Baduel - CEO of Curzon PR, the evening’s event will applaud the social, economic, cultural, and political achievement of women.

Birmingham Airport has entered another year drawing in record breaking monthly passenger figures with January being the busiest start to the year on record for the airport. In total 775,176 passengers were handled in January 2017 – giving a 16.1% growth year-on-year compared to the same month last year. Long haul demand for seats was also very significant showing a 29.5% rate of growth. Short haul also experienced strong growth up by 13.4% year-on-year.