Furlough: When will the job retention scheme end? May 12, 2020 Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s job retention scheme has won wide plaudits for helping workers stay employed via furlough during the coronavirus crisis. Furlough has been one of the fundamental pillars in the chancellor’s economic response to the crisis and it has effectively amounted to temporary state socialism. The historic policy has seen the government – a [...]
Job retention scheme: Rishi Sunak extends furlough scheme until October May 12, 2020 Chancellor Rishi Sunak has extended the government’s coronavirus job retention scheme until October and has promised furloughed workers they will not see a further dip in their salary until it ends. Sunak announced today that the scheme will remain the same until the end of July, but from August to October there will be “greater [...]
Easyjet founder offers £5m reward for Airbus deal ‘whistleblower’ May 12, 2020 Easyjet’s founder Stelios Haji-Ioannou is offering a £5m reward to any “whistleblower” who can provide information leading to the cancellation of the airline’s 107-plane deal with Airbus. Haji-Ioannou has been attempting to force Easyjet’s board into scrapping the deal for months, saying the £4.5bn deal will leave the carrier without enough cash to survive the [...]
Bank of England must weigh up negative interest rates, says deputy governor May 12, 2020 Bank of England deputy governor Ben Broadbent has raised the possibility of negative interest rates in the UK, but said the BoE would have to think hard about the challenges they pose. Asked about negative rates on CNBC, Broadbent said it was “a question that’s been thought about on and off since the financial crisis [...]
Former BoE governor says extend furlough scheme indefinitely May 12, 2020 Rishi Sunak should announce an indefinite extension of the coronavirus furlough scheme today with no changes to the level of pay, according to the former Bank of England (BoE) governor. Lord Mervyn King, who was the BoE helmsman during the 2008 financial crisis, said today that the scheme should be in place until “the economy [...]
Coronavirus lockdown: Kingfisher sales plunge due to store closures May 12, 2020 B&Q owner Kingfisher reported plummeting sales in the first quarter due to coronavirus lockdown measures, but said trading was beginning to bounce back after stores reopened. The DIY retailer said first quarter like-for-like sales were down 24.8 per cent to £2.2bn due to the impact of coronavirus. Online growth increased fourfold from mid-March as Kingfisher [...]
Airline stocks sink as FTSE 100 falls on fears of second wave May 11, 2020 The FTSE 100 fell back into negative territory this afternoon after early optimism about an easing of the UK lockdown appeared to evaporate. London’s stock market was up 0.85 per cent as it flirted with the 6,000 points marker earlier today. But traders’ enthusiasm quickly dwindled as European stocks also dropped into the red. The [...]
UK companies could be holding up to £105bn in unsustainable debt, warns industry body May 11, 2020 UK companies could be holding up to £105bn in unsustainable debt, according to new analysis from financial services industry body, TheCityUK. In a letter to the Bank of England (BoE) governor Andrew Bailey, TheCityUK said the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on business is “serious and profound”. TheCityUK has set up a recapitalisation group to [...]
Connecting the dots in Europe reveals a continent in decline May 11, 2020 My colleagues at my political risk firm are forced to endure my earlier incarnation as a college professor, as I cannot help but try to instruct them. One of my favourite lectures concerns the absolutely necessary need for a world-class political risk analyst to connect the dots, to clearly link together geopolitical data points that [...]
Extend job retention scheme to stop unemployment spike, says think tank May 9, 2020 The UK’s coronavirus job retention scheme must be extended for three months in order to prevent joblessness from spiking, an employment think tank has said. Under the job retention scheme (JRS) the government pays 80 per cent of “furloughed” workers’ wages, up to a limit of £2,500 a month. In a report out today, UK [...]