COVID-19 Business News

Zoom conference call on laptop

SMEs head online to counter lockdown — and find surprise benefits

SMALL UK businesses are moving the bulk of their services online as the sector takes tentative steps towards recovery. Small Business Britain and BT Skills...
EU flag coronavirus graphic

Fresh EU coronavirus recovery package has detractors up north

EU HEADS have agreed to set up a €540bn post-pandemic recovery fund, tied to the EU’s seven-year budget. European Council president Charles Michel, who chaired...
Contactless payment with smartphone

Contactless ‘in-touch with wary consumers’ — cash ‘faring poorly’

CONTACTLESS spending could soon account for 47 percent of all transactions, according to research carried out by the Centre of Retail Research (CRR). It examined...
Illustration: Businessman holding tablet with barchart

The route to profitability — in times of pandemic

ASHLEIGH HINDE, CEO and founder of contact lens company Waldo, on the difficulty of balancing the people, payments and profits equation during tough times WITH...
Lazy office worker

Slackers! Back to work! And switch off that Netflix series!

EIGHT out of 10 Brits are working from home, but it has come to light that not all of them have their noses to...
Business closed

UK firms on cliff edge as crisis continues, distress tracker reveals

MORE than a half-a-million UK businesses are facing a high risk of insolvency, and 250,000 may not survive another month without a change to...
Rishi Sunak, UK Chancellor

Latest UK government scheme adds ‘bounce’ for businesses

CHRISTINA NAWROCKI explains the most recent UK initiative to support small businesses left floundering by the pandemic UK CHANCELLOR of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak recently...
Spanish property market, €3m plus house

Dream is alive, but the landscape has changed for UK second-home...

The pandemic pain in Spain falls mainly on the lower end of the property market — but, as HAL WILLIAMS discovers, international second-home owners...
Business closed

Relief for small firms as rent moratorium runs until 2022

THE FEDERATION of Small Businesses (FSB) has welcomed the extension to a moratorium on commercial tenant evictions in England until March 25 next year. FSB...
Rishi Sunak, UK Chancellor

Second helping of aid for the UK’s self-employed

SELF-EMPLOYED people whose income has been hit by coronavirus can apply for a second support grant from the UK government. The first was launched in...