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...
Zara shop

Online push from Inditex as up to 1,200 stores to close

INDITEX, the Spanish owner of fashion and clothing stores Zara, Bershka, Pull & Bear and Massimo Dutti, will close up to 1,200 outlets around...
Fraud Alert - internal audit

Internal auditors ‘strategic advisers’ on online fraud

DATA AND tech company Kroll has issued a report on the changing role of internal audit in fraud risk-management since the start of the...
UN SDG8 Decent work and economic growth

SDG8: From Luddites to the Mumbai exodus: workers labouring without love

JASON AGNEW reports on SDG8 — decent work and economic growth — in his ongoing series for BV SDG8: DECENT WORK AND ECONOMIC GROWTH On March...
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...
Rishi Sunak, UK Chancellor

Mixed but generally positive responses to Sunak’s revised support package

By HAL WILLIAMS THE UK government’s new package of measures to support businesses through to March 2021 has met with differing responses from the business...
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...
Ukraine sunflowers field - Ukraine flag

Ukraine invasion could drive a recession and is crippling retail

Deloitte economist looks beyond the immediate tragedy of war to predict tough times ahead THE WAR in Ukraine has dramatically dialled up the risk of...
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...
Man working from home, video conference, Zoom

Gift from the pandemic: fresh ways of working and communicating

Flexibility contributes to gender equality in the workplace — without affecting your bottom line By RAE MORGAN STATISTICS brandished by companies as proof of progress in...