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...
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...
Stock Market Charts Coronavirus

Markets catch a cold as virus fears infect stock exchanges

THE Nikkei Index for the Tokyo Stock Exchange has taken a tumble over fears at the spread of coronavirus. The 4.5 percent slump — which...
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...
UN SDG9 Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure

SDG9: What a difference a president makes: Biden clears way for...

BV’s JASON AGNEW continues his series examining the background, implementation and ambitions of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals with SDG9 — Industry, Innovation and...
Samsung phone

Samsung sees jump in Q2 profits thanks to remote working trend

SAMSUNG Electronics earnings have been boosted by the work-from-home boom. The world’s largest smartphone manufacturer announced Q2 operating profits up 23 percent compared with last...
UN SDG10 Reduced Inequalities

SDG10: Finding equality in an unequal world is never easy

The UN’s sustainable development goal SDG10 — to reduce inequality within and among countries — is a particular challenge, as BV’s JASON AGNEW reports SDG10:...
Businessman in handcuffs. Covid scheme fraud illustration

Lengthy bans for directors who fiddled Covid scheme

AN AVERAGE of 35 directors are being banned by the UK Insolvency Service each month for abusing the Covid Support Scheme. That’s almost treble the...
Farmed mink in cage

Covid mink stole the future of the despised fur industry

by Hal Williams THE EUROPEAN fur industry is reeling — to the dismay of fashion victims and the relief of animal rights supporters. Denmark's mass culling...
Diamond Light Source Macromolecular Crystallography

AI to the rescue? Oxford-based firm enters partnership to crack COVID-19

AN AI-DRIVEN drug-discovery company in the UK has entered a joint initiative to advance compounds that could treat COVID-19. Oxford-based Exscientia has teamed-up with Diamond...