COVID-19 Business News

Crowdfunding graphic

SMEs ‘turn to crowdfunding to fuel growth out of the pandemic’

SMEs ARE more likely to choose non-traditional ways of accessing capital, including crowdfunding (32 percent) or offering investment opportunities to employees (30 percent), than...
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...
Tablet showing graphs, technology, fintech

Fintech funding key to keeping SMEs strong after end of loans

ONE OF Europe’s largest business lenders says the fintech industry must be strengthened to support SMEs after the Bounce Back Loan scheme closes at...
Euro bank notes

ECB launches new aid package to soothe effects of pandemic

By HAL WILLIAMS THE EUROPEAN Central Bank has launched a €750bn emergency package to buy government and company debt across the eurozone. The temporary purchasing scheme...
UK Government loan

Covid-19 loan schemes ‘a debt, not a grant’ cautions UK Finance

UK BUSINESSES are pessimistic about their growth potential once the COVID-19 crisis passes. A survey of 1,200 firms has found that the pandemic has negatively...
CitySprint van

Stand and deliver: CitySprint puts out a call for new drivers

UK SAME-DAY distribution company CitySprint is looking for 600 couriers with small or large vans — across the country. They will join the 3,500 vans,...
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...
Skyscrapers with aircraft in sky

Job-swap hope for airline workers — but misery for EasyJet staff

By Hal Williams IN A WEEK where EasyJet announced plans to cut up to 30 percent of its employees to save costs, home healthcare company...
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...
Female speaker, training class, skills gap

Staffing association calls on UK government to address skills gap

LABOUR market data from the UK’s Office for National Statistics have elicited a welcome — and a caution — from the Association of Professional...