KPMG’s West Midland operations performed slightly below the UK trend last year according to the senior partner at the firm’s Birmingham office.
The firm did not release detailed figures for the region, but Mel Egglenton said revenues were slightly down on the levels for the UK as a whole, which also showed a small dip in the year to 30th September.
Revenues in the UK were £1.7 billion, down 1.6 per cent and on a European level, turnover for its UK, German, Swiss, Spanish and Belgian practices was £3.14 billion for the year, a decrease of 0.4 per cent on the previous year.
Mr Egglenton said: “For the Midlands part of that we are slightly below the UK average which is reflective of the difficulties that the West Midlands as a whole has had.”
Mr Egglenton was not overly optimistic on how he thought the region would fare over the coming months.
“Sadly I think more of the same,” he said.
“I think for the West Midlands it’s tough but there is a little bit of movement.
“We’re not seeing as many insolvencies as we might have expected and companies are looking to try to get back into growth and look for acquisitions but the stumbling block will be availability of finance.
“We will see things pick up in the spring hopefully.”
Mr Egglenton said the region had taken on 80 graduates during the year and that current jobs market had meant it had seen a surge in young people applying to the firm.
“Certainly the number of applications is hugely up,” he said.
“We have benefited through the stability of our workforce and doing things like the Flexible Futures scheme where we ask people to take sabbaticals or work short time so we keep our skills in the firm.
“We are getting a greater choice that’s for sure.”
