News | Page 17

A West Midlands recruitment firm has managed to secure a major contract for supplying up to 200 temporary workers to Worcestershire timber manufacturer Forest Garden, a recent report in the local business media has been able to reveal.

Two of the largest cities in the East Midlands, Nottingham and Derby, have been listed among the best places for job creation across the UK, local business media has been able to reveal. The Cities Outlook report by Centre for Cities placed Nottingham as number ten on a list of 64 UK cities for total job creation over the past decade, since, between 2004 and 2013, employers in the city created 21,400 jobs.

Construction work is set to begin on a new major speculative industrial scheme in Coventry after property group Goodman acquired nine acres of land in the city as part of a joint venture with LaSalle Investment Management, a recent news report in the local media has been able to reveal.

Businesses based in the Midlands are showing greater signs of recovery than any other region in Britain, according to the latest Business Distress Index from insolvency trade body R3. More than half (51 per cent) of companies in the region are reporting an increase in sales, while similar growth is echoed by just over one in three (35 per cent) in both the north and south.

One of the UK’s best-known car manufacturers has revealed plans to cut more than 300 jobs across its Midlands operations as part of a worldwide cost optimization effort that will see over 2,600 total redundancies being made.

A Derbyshire-based food distribution service has managed to attain strong growth following continued investment in the business, a recent news report in the local business media has been able to reveal. Sales at Holdsworth Foods increased by 15 per cent in the year to February 2014, with managers claiming that the group’s new depot in Essex and the acquisition of Anglia Woods Foodservice in Grimsby during the period had strengthened its buying skills and bolstered its range of products available to clients.

A recruitment company has revealed plans to create 15 new jobs after moving to a larger office space, a news report in the local business media was able to reveal. The Birmingham branch of Hudson is relocating to a 4,000 sq ft office on Birmingham’s Edmund Street and will boost its workforce to 50 staff from 35 as a result.

More than 500 new jobs could be created in Nottingham following a trio of interesting deals between the local council and the several private firms, a recent news report on the matter was able to find. The deals include an agreement with Chinook Sciences to develop 17-acres of council-owned land into a new energy park, in a move that could bring an additional 270 jobs to the city.

Representative of the National Union of Mineworkers, Chris Kitchen, said the news that a Warwickshire coal mine will close is “devastating” for the workers and their families.

Jobless figures say approximately 12,500 people are claiming job seekers allowance in Wolverhampton, so the news that 700 new jobs will be created locally is a welcome fillip.

An Oldbury CPS manager has appeared in court charged with a £1 million fraud. The alleged offence was read out at Birmingham Magistrates’ Court.

More than 1,000 Staffordshire police officers are to carry body cameras.