The feelgood factor is holding firm across West Midland businesses – but is still below the national average, a new survey reveals.
The latest ICAEW/Grant Thornton Business Confidence Monitor (BCM) report shows turnover and sales volumes are both up, although gross profits remain fragile.
The survey says: “Confidence in the West Midlands has been holding steady over the past 12 months. Businesses in the region have continued to report steady growth in the key financial performance indicators; turnover has risen by 3.4 per cent while sales volumes are up by 3.8 per cent. Growth in gross profit, though, remains relatively weak with businesses reporting annual growth of just 2.4 per cent this quarter.”
Tom Madden, ICAEW Midlands Regional Director, said: “Encouragingly, there are now also signs of an emerging upward trend. The outlook appears to be more positive and companies are expecting rises in gross profits and growth in turnover and sales volume.
“If the levels of growth predicted are realised, we would see the region return towards rates of expansion seen prior to the financial crisis. There is a real possibility now that the region will break out from the weak growth seen across the country over the last 2 years.”
Businesses in the region are reporting that employee numbers have increased by 1.9 per cent over the last year, comparing to annual growth of just 1.2 per cent. This is the fastest rate of growth seen since 2008.
Dave Munton, regional managing partner at Grant Thornton UK, said: “Job growth in the region has been a major positive for the local economy, outperforming national statistics and setting the benchmark for the country to follow.
"A great example of this is at the old Rover factory in Longbridge, now operated by St Modwen, where some 3,000 jobs have been created and a further 4,000 are due to come. Strong job creation is vital for the economy to recover from the financial crisis, and the figures are a real positive.”
