Thinking differently to build a better business July 14, 2020 | City Talk As lockdown eases and business life begins to return to some kind of normality, the challenge for mid-market finance directors is to reflect on the new ways of working, introduced to help overcome the virus and cope with lockdown, and build on them to work differently in the future to enhance finance operations, manage costs [...]
Finding the best way to incentivise management July 14, 2020 | City Talk With cash at a premium, businesses could be considering an award of shares to employees instead of bonuses. This could be a good way to incentivise key employees in the long term without utilising cash and perhaps a first step towards unlocking liquidity for owners through, for example, a management buy-out. However, with share values [...]
Coronavirus: Herefordshire farm locked down after 73 cases confirmed July 13, 2020 A farm in Herefordshire has been locked down after 73 of its workers tested positive for coronavirus, it was announced yesterday. Public Health England and Herefordshire council said that up to 200 employees at the farm had been asked to self-isolate due to the outbreak at vegetable producers AS Green and Co. Workers at the [...]
R rate could be as high as 1 in London and England July 10, 2020 England’s R rate could be as high as one, according to new government data published today. The UK’s R rate is estimated at between 0.7 and 0.9 but England’s rate stands higher, between 0.8 and one, according to Sage. The government’s group of science advisers estimated that London’s R rate is somewhere between 0.7 and [...]
Peter Harrison: UK business needs a £30bn equity injection July 10, 2020 | City Talk The winning companies of tomorrow need help to survive today. This is how we, and the government, could help. The full economic impact of the Covid-19 crisis is now beginning to be felt as each day brings fresh news of job losses. It will get worse. £30 billion fund needed There is a chance to [...]
US coronavirus cases rise by record 60,565 in single day July 10, 2020 The US reported at least 60,565 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, a new record increase and the second day in a row infections have risen by at least 60,000, according to a Reuters tally. For a third day in a row, US coronavirus deaths climbed by more than 800, the highest levels seen since early [...]
UK quarantine ends for 59 countries July 10, 2020 Passengers from abroad landing in England, Wales and Northern Ireland no longer have to self-isolate for two weeks as the government relaxed quarantine rules. Travellers from 59 countries and 14 overseas British territories are now exempt from the ban, although people from the US – where cases are still spiking – and Canada must still [...]
Tax less, spend more: the Chancellor’s Summer Statement July 8, 2020 | City Talk The Chancellor delivered an Economic Statement that may not have been heralded as a Budget, but nonetheless delivered some significant changes to the country’s taxation and spending regime. In what was clearly a ‘Tax Less, Spend More’ statement, Rishi Sunak delivered not just a VAT cut for the few, but spending grants for the many. [...]
VAT rate cut: implementation for businesses will be more complicated than it appears July 8, 2020 | City Talk The Chancellor’s announcement is a welcome and targeted measure for the hospitality and leisure sector which has been impacted by COVID-19 and this VAT reduction from 20% to 5% is designed to help stimulate spending. Prior to the announcement, there had been speculation that there would be a general rate cut – which we have recently [...]
Rishi Sunak Summer Statement: All the Chancellor’s spending pledges July 8, 2020 Chancellor Rishi Sunak today announced a raft of measures in his Summer Statement in a bid to help the UK economy recover from the worst effects of coronavirus. The Treasury boss revealed massive public spending to bolster the UK economy in what people are calling his mini-Budget. While he did not extend the government’s furlough [...]