Advertising recession ‘highly probable’ as coronavirus hits key media owners March 30, 2020 An advertising recession in the first half of 2020 is now highly probable as brands slash spending due to the coronavirus outbreak, according to a new report. Industry body Warc today warned that the advertising industry was all but certain to follow the wider global economy and fall into a recession sparked by the pandemic. [...]
UK government to spend £75m on charter flights for stranded Britons March 30, 2020 The government will subsidise airlines to bring home UK nationals stuck abroad in a £75m deal. Travellers stuck in countries with no commercial flight options available will have charter flights made available “at little to no cost”, according to foreign secretary Dominic Raab. Raab announced today that British Airways, Virgin, Easy Jet, Jet 2 and [...]
Coronavirus: Bank of England extends emergency liquidity measure March 30, 2020 The Bank of England said today it would extend an emergency liquidity measure, the three-month Contingent Term Repo Facility (CTRF), to run until the end of April and it would also hold a one-month CTRF operation each week until 1 May. The Bank reactivated the facility last week as part of its attempts to keep [...]
Coronavirus: Clubs facing ‘an avalanche’ of claims from players over forced pay cuts March 30, 2020 Everyone has had to make sacrifices since the coronavirus pandemic took over daily life, and sportspeople are no exception. With all sport in the UK currently postponed, players have set about a new existence, training as best as they can at home until a resumption is possible. But with no end to the lockdown in [...]
Sharing fake news about coronavirus should be an offence, says top Tory MP March 30, 2020 Sharing fake news related to the coronavirus outbreak on social media should be an offence, a top Tory MP said today. Damian Collins, former chair of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Select Committee, called for sanctions against organisations and individuals that were “maliciously, deliberately, and at scale pushing disinformation through social media networks”. [...]
Arcadia cancels supplier orders amid coronavirus crisis March 30, 2020 Sir Philip Green’s Arcadia has cancelled all orders from its suppliers and extended its payment terms as it seeks to conserve cash during the coronavirus pandemic. Arcadia, which owns high street giants Topshop, Dorothy Perkins and Burtons, has written to its supply chain to say all orders have been cancelled and payment terms will be [...]
UBS sticks with planned dividend despite global calls for payout freeze March 30, 2020 UBS intends to pay its 2019 dividend as planned, the Swiss banking giant said today, despite guidance from Swiss authorities and international banking groups to limit payouts due to the catastrophic economic impact of coronavirus. The bank’s proposed dividend of $0.73 (59p) in cash per share is an increase of almost six per cent on [...]
Johnson & Johnson shares rise after it strikes $1bn coronavirus vaccine deal with US government March 30, 2020 Shares in pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson rose today after it said it had agreed a $1bn (£810m) deal to supply the US government with coronavirus vaccine. Johnson & Johnson said it would start human testing of its experimental coronavirus vaccine by September, with the goal of having it ready for emergency use in early [...]
Easyjet founder blasts board over call for state aid, tells firm to raise cash March 30, 2020 Easyjet’s founder and largest shareholder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou has blasted the airline’s calls for state aid, saying companies as big as Easyjet “do not deserve charitable gifts”. Instead, the carrier should look to raise cash through an equity raise, he said, saying government loans “would only postpone the problem, [they] do not cure it”. In [...]
Coronavirus: Carnival shares plummet as firm extends cruise suspensions March 30, 2020 Carnival’s luxury cruise operator Cunard today said that it would extend the suspension of all its voyages by a month to 15 May due to the coronavirus pandemic. Carnival, also the operator of two coronavirus-stricken Princess cruises, has already temporarily suspended several of its ships due to concerns over the rapidly spreading Covid-19 crisis earlier [...]
