Birmingham's Chamber of Commerce has seen its workforce halved since 2007 and reduced staff costs by more than £1.6 million in two years.
The shrinking of the Edgbaston-based organisation was revealed by Chamber financial director Mike Hibbert in a statement to coincide with the group’s AGM.
Mr Hibbert said reduced funding and income had meant it had to cut costs.
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It was revealed as the chamber unveiled Tim Pile as its new president at the meeting.
Mr Hibbert said: “The group’s income for the year was £6.6 million compared to £8.4 million in the previous year, due to reduced public funding for business support and training, which was £2.3 million lower as projects came to an end and were not renewed.
“Funding also reduced as the Job Centre Plus contracts ended and the Work Programme started up. Subscription income from members and patrons was in line with the previous year.
“Despite the decrease in income, the group’s operating surplus increased from £43,000 last year to £75,000. This increase was made possible by reductions in staff costs of £529,000, on top of the £1.1 million reduction last year. £73,000 was expended on redundancy costs. The surplus before tax to £96,000 compares to £89,000 in the previous year.”
Mr Hibbert later told the Post: “We have had to make further reductions because of the continuing reduction in public funding. We have come from a point in 2007 when we had nearly £30 million of public funding flooding through the Chamber in business value. Public funding is much more difficult to come by now. There is very little public funding compared to what there used to be.
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“Year on year we have had to reduce staff. It costs money to save money with reductions.”
Mr Hibbert said the reduction of the Chamber’s workforce from 200 to 87 in recent years largely reflected the end of Business Link. He added: “We employed in excess of 200 people when we had the Business Link operation which ended in 2007. We have gone back to where we used to be before we took on Business Link.”
Mr Hibbert said the reductions in costs had included cuts in consultancy fees and outside delivery of other services.
David Waller, the chamber’s chairman, said that while membership numbers declined slightly revenues rose, reflecting the Chamber’s continuing relevance in particular to growing and larger businesses.
He added: “Our chamber is in the top one third of chambers nationally, in terms of retention. We are among the strongest in our appeal to larger businesses, with over 30 patrons in Birmingham Chamber alone. We anticipate continuing to deepen our appeal to these businesses and we have invested in the resources that serve these members. This chamber is the most active in the 海角视频 in helping drive exports. We deliver the government’s 海角视频TI export service and a number of additional contracts that help our businesses access markets all over the world. The chamber continues to develop in-house so that we can sign-post our members to the wide range of help that is out there.”
Meanwhile, new chamber president Tim Pile kicked off his tenure by saying he wants the region to be an ‘incubator of great ideas’.
Mr Pile, executive chair of Midland marketing agency Cogent Elliott, is succeeding Steve Brittan in the role.
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After the AGM, he said: “Maintaining Birmingham as a powerhouse of ideas is absolutely critical in transforming lives and creating wealth.
“This gives us the edge over other places and I absolutely believe that the power of ideas, coupled with the ability to deliver them, can change people’s lives.”
Mr Brittan said: “During my year I have met most senior government figures, including David Cameron and Vince Cable, plus the new governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney. The only way to influence policy is by talking to these people first hand.