Business Bites

Are we beginning to re-open anyway?

The PM says he will soon announce the reopening plan after weeks of compulsory lockdown for the UKs public and its businesses. Boris Johnson is under pressure to come up with the blueprint for restarting the economy as the list of suffering firms grows larger and more and more redundancies…

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Coronavirus treatment hopes push stock markets up, and ‘Spoons to reopen in June

Investors are chirpy this morning amid hopes of a new coronavirus treatment that has been described as promising by the USA’s top infectious disease official, Dr Anthony Fauci. The experimental drug, called remdesivir, is produced by an American biopharmaceutical firm called Gilead Sciences, and is reckoned by US regulators to…

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The aviation industry is now in very serious trouble

In a sign of just how distressed the aviation industry is, British Airways has announced plans to lay off 30% of its workforce, or about 12,000 employees, and says it expects it to take several years before passenger volumes return to 2019 levels. The chief executive, Alex Cruz, wrote to…

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Job support to be wound down, M&S dividend suspended, ventilator production slows, property market halts

Chancellor Rishi Sunack says he will wean the economy off his support schemes in a “gradual” wind-down, to help prevent soaring unemployment on ‘expiration day’. His announcement, made to MPs, came in response to concerns that a definite cut-off date would produce an explosion in redundancies and layoffs. Currently, the…

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Lockdown to persist says Johnson, clergy weigh in on behaviour of corona-corporations

The PM is back at his desk and says the lockdown must continue for the foreseeable future, and it would be premature to consider lifting now. After having been struck down with COVID-19 himself – and ending up in intensive care – the premier has finally convalesced and spoke from…

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Retail landlords reined in, France gets touch on tax havens, and insurers face biggest ever payouts

The government has banned landlords from using winding-up orders against their retail tenants, after aggressive rent collection tactics which threaten the future of retail businesses came to light. Tens of thousands of businesses in both retail and hospitality have found themselves unable to keep up with their rent during the…

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Scarves for face-masks will be part of the government’s post-pandemic advice

The government will advise the use of homemade facemasks once the pandemic measures are sufficiently relaxed for people to go back to work. As it tries to make sure that surgical-grade personal protective equipment (PPE) does not face supply issues for NHS workers, the government said scarves or ‘homemade cloth…

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Will there be coronavirus help for small company directors who are paid by dividend?

The financial plight of limited company directors has been raised by the Tory chairman of the Treasury select committee. Mel Stride, a former Treasury minister, said chancellor Rishi Sunak needs to view company directors as a tranche of people who have ‘slipped through the net’ of all the other largesse…

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Wetherspoons’ boss was right to withhold wages

The media and the Twitterati have had a field day vilifying the founder and owner of pub chain Wetherspoons over his decision not to pay his staff in light of the coronavirus restrictions. Tim Martin had sent an email to his 43,000 staff saying he could not afford to pay…

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BT’s boss catches it, markets rebounding, pain medication prices spike

Today I am going to rattle through a wider selection of stories than normal because the spread of the virus is hitting so many sectors hard, with key figures in the business community affected. The markets are recovering some of their losses this morning after having their worst selloff since…

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