John Davies is Executive Chairman of Alternative Lender Just Cash FLow PLC that partners with well run businesses by providing fast flexible financial help to ensure sustainable and long term growth and prosperity. As someone with four decades of experience of running businesses or helping them to invest and grow I keep getting asked about what the impact of the Covid-19 crisis is going to have on UK SMEs. I almost immediately always quote former Intel CEO Andy Grove who famously said, “Bad companies are destroyed by crises; good companies survive them; great companies are improved by them.” The Government…
Author: sme-admin
The government yesterday, 22nd September, announced further national measures to address rising cases of coronavirus in England. The original advice on critical key behaviour remains in place; Wash your hands regularly and for at least 20 seconds, cover your face in enclosed spaces, especially where social distancing may be difficult and stay 2 metres apart where possible, or 1 metre with extra precautions in place. But in an effort to contain the virus, new restrictions were announced by UK prime minister Boris Johnson yesterday, which come into force on Thursday 24th September. People in England will be asked to work from…
Revenues have fallen at clothing brand Superdry, with its performance for its financial year “materially impacted” by the outbreak of Covid-19. The Cheltenham-headquartered company turned over £704.4m for the year to 25 April 2020, a decline of 19.2 per cent on the previous year, and reported a statutory loss before tax of £166.9m, up from £89.3m in 2019, which includes a store impairment charge of £136.8m. The full-year underlying pre-tax loss of £41.8m includes the impact of provision and accounting charges of £19.7m. Founder and chief executive Julian Dunkerton said: “Our priority throughout the pandemic has been the wellbeing of our…
The government has axed rail franchising and announced plans to extend support for train firms. To date the bill has run to more than £3.5bn and the Department for Transport has said “significant” support will still be needed. Support was initially given when passenger numbers fell during lockdown and taxpayer money was used to plug the shortfall in ticket revenues Although passenger numbers have edged up since lockdown, they are still less than half pre-pandemic levels. As a result, emergency measures to cover the losses of train firms have been extended by 18 months. They reduce the fees that can…
Care providers in England will be given over half a billion Pounds to reduce COVID-19 transmission, bolster infection control and help protect residents and staff throughout winter. The Infection Control Fund, set up in May, has now been extended until March 2021, with an extra £546 million to help the care sector restrict the movement of staff between care homes to stop the spread of the virus. The fund will help care providers pay staff full wages when they are self-isolating and enable staff to work in only one care home, reducing the risk of spreading the infection. This brings…
Gender discrimination and harassment still exists – especially in tech. A new report from the non-profit ‘Women Who Tech’, which surveyed over 1,000 tech employees, found that more than 40% of women founders and women in tech continue to be harassed, despite the #MeToo movement. This year’s survey paralleled the 2017 survey while introducing new questions around investors’ perception of gender parity in tech and whether investors believe gender plays a role in access to funding. It also incorporated questions around whether women or nonbinary respondents were treated differently than men while working in tech or raising money for their startups. The report also found…
The Government has published the latest UK House Price Index data. This is the third publication since May 2020 following the decision to suspend the index as a result of the effect the coronavirus pandemic had on the reporting of the data. Between now and 21 October, they will be publishing the reports that were meant to be published during the period of suspension to enable the August data to be released on 21 October,. The June index was originally scheduled to be released in August. UK house prices increased by 3.4% in the year to June 2020, up from…
Seven UK companies have been awarded a share of over £1 million to help track debris in space Seven pioneering projects which will develop new sensor technology or artificial intelligence to monitor hazardous space debris, have been announced today by the UK Space Agency. The UK Space Agency and Ministry of Defence have also announced the next step in their joint initiative to enhance the UK’s awareness of events in space. Last year there was a close call in which a £100 million spacecraft operated by the European Space Agency (ESA) had to light up its thrusters to dodge a…
The Ministry of Defence is seeking new ways to assist military drone operators in urban environments in a new funding competition The Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) and Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) are seeking innovative and novel solutions to assist military drone operators to improve usability in challenging and complex urban operations. This cross-departmental requirement between DASA and DE&S is designed for the rapid exploitation of technology and is the first of its kind. Up to £900,000 is available for successful proposals that can help the Ministry of Defence overcome three challenges. The first challenge is the development of an optimised Unmanned Air…
New laws prohibiting social gatherings of more than six people come into effect today (Monday 14 September) as the Government calls on the public to remain vigilant in the fight against coronavirus. The new “rule of six” simplifies and strengthens the rules on social gatherings, making them easier to understand and easier for the police to enforce. It means that – apart from a set of limited exemptions including work and education – any social gatherings of more than six people will be against the law. Police will be able to disperse any such gatherings and fine individuals involved £100,…