The changing culture of business in Birmingham and the wider West Midlands was on the agenda at an economic event held by the Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce (GBCC) in partnership with recruitment and people development agency Katie Bard.
The event, hosted by The Royal Bank of Scotland, provided around 80 guests with a detailed look at the latest results of the GBCC’s Quarterly Economic Survey (QES), which is sponsored by Katie Bard.
The report indicated there was a decline across all sectors in sales in the first quarter of 2015, although the Chamber reported there were signs that businesses remain confident that fortunes will improve after the General Election.
John Mortimer, co-founder and chief executive of the Angela Mortimer group, of which Katie Bard is a member firm, said trends in the recruitment sector have also indicated reasons to be positive.
“We have seen an upturn in confidence across multiple sectors in the last quarter,” he said.
“Recruitment is a strong indicator of business confidence, so we take encouragement that despite the degree of uncertainty caused by factors such as the General Election, the mood continues to point towards further growth.”
Mr Mortimer, Dr Steve McCabe, director of research degrees at Birmingham City Business School and RBS economist Marcus Wright were among the speakers at the event, while David Bharier from the British Chambers of Commerce also provided analysis of the QES report.