All MCA Insight articles in September 2020 – Page 3
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NewsChancellor’s Winter Economy Plan: ‘Job Support Scheme,’ ‘pay as you grow’ and VAT cuts
Businesses forced to reduce employee working hours because of the coronavirus crisis will be legible for government wage subsidies of one third of lost pay, The Chancellor has announced. To continue supporting businesses with cashflow, bounceback loans will be merged with a new ‘pay as you grow’ scheme and government guarantees for CIBLS will be extended for up to ten years, and the deadline for all loan schemes will be extended until the end of 2020 whilst government works on a “new successor loan guarantee programme” to start in January 2021. The VAT bill, due to be paid in March 2021, will instead be spread over 11 smaller payments without interest for those businesses who need it, and the Chancellor has cancelled the planned increase in VAT (back to the standard rate of 20%) set for January, with VAT remaining at the reduced 5% rate until 31 March instead.
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NewsLeon appoints Ayerst MD
Leon has appointed Nick Ayerst, former MD of TRG Concessions, as managing director.
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NewsSubway ‘exploiting eviction moratorium’
Subway is failing to pay its rent, despite continuing to take payments from franchisees, landlords have claimed.
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Analysis & InsightDavid Read: So, where is the data?
Yesterday morning I attended a regular Zoom update call alongside around eighty people, mostly from the hotel sector. As luck would have it the speaker was Kate Nicholls, CEO of UK Hospitality, someone who few would dispute has done more to keep the hospitality sector afloat in these troubled times than any other. She cut a frustrated figure as, an hour or so before Johnson rose to speak in the Commons on coronavirus, she updated us on the agenda that would shortly unfold. The list of measures was (to say the least) unwelcome, and there was a palpable level of shock in the meeting.
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InterviewsDeltic CEO Peter Marks: ‘We’re innocent until proven guilty’
There has been no evidence to support government suggestions that hospitality is to blame for the rise in coronavirus cases, and therefore the industry should be considered “innocent until proven guilty,” Deltic CEO Peter Marks has told MCA.
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NewsVirus outbreak halts production for Greggs
Greggs has said a “small number” of staff at its factory near Newcastle have tested positive for coronavirus with production temporarily shut down.
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NewsQuarter believe business will fail
A quarter of hospitality businesses (23%) believe they will fail by the end of the year without further Government support.
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NewsM&B 'continues to outperform the market'
Mitchells & Butlers achieved like-for-like sales growth of 1.4% in August, as a result of the Eat Out to Help Out scheme and the reduction in VAT.
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NewsJulian Metcalfe lambasts PM’s ‘exaggerated nonsense’
Itsu CEO Julian Metcalfe has savaged Prime Minister Boris Johnson for “spouting Churchillian nonsense” and called a new six-month call to work from home “criminal”.
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NewsSunak to announce wage subsidy scheme, VAT cuts and new loans
Chancellor Rishi Sunak is set to announce a multibillion-pound package of economic support including wage subsidies for part for part-time workers, VAT cuts and more loans for struggling businesses.
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NewsGiggling Squid to open in Cambridge
Thai restaurant group Giggling Squid is set to open a new site in Cambridge next week.
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NewsGusto CVA sees four sites close
Gusto Italian has completed a CVA process which secures the future of the business and 600 jobs, but results in four restaurant closures.
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NewsUnlicensed premises exempt from table service rule
The ‘table service only’ rule only applies to licensed operators, the government has clarified.
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NewsRaab: ‘We can’t rule out second lockdown’
The government can’t rule out a second lockdown if the latest coronavirus restrictions fail to curb infection rates, foreign secretary Dominic Raab has said.
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InterviewsRoadchef CEO Mark Fox: ‘Soul destroying’ to be blamed for rising infection rates
The government’s suggestion that hospitality is to blame for the uptick in coronavirus cases is “soul destroying” and unfounded, MCA’s The Conversation has heard. Speaking at the event, Roadchef CEO Mark Fox said that ministers’ “sideways” accusations that hospitality businesses have had a part to play in disease transmission has “been pretty soul destroying”, given the extent to which many operators have gone to ensure their sites are safe. Also on the panel, Anglian Country Inns MD James Nye said the shift in government messaging suggests there is ”a storm on the horizon,” whilst UK Hospitality CEO Kate Nicholls argued that without a clear reason for the implementation of a curfew, it’s unlikely to produce the desired results.
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NewsSunak considers furlough replacement programme
Chancellor Rishi Sunak is drawing up plans for a new wage subsidy programme to replace the Jobs Retention Scheme next month, the Financial Times reports.
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NewsSSP sales continue to struggle
SSP Group has predicted a bleak H2 outlook as the coronavirus crisis continues to hit sales.
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NewsTen Entertainment sees post-lockdown profits
Ten Entertainment Group has seen a “strong start” to initial post-lockdown trading, remaining profitable and cash generative since reopening in August.
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OpinionA six month sentence
“Nuts.” “No logic.” “A crushing blow.” The industry wasn’t impressed by the idea of a curfew. And that was the reaction before Boris Johnson handed down a punitive six month sentence. Frustration at the prospect was palpable and understandable, primarily because hospitality is being treated like a leading cause of infection rates rising when it isn’t.
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OpinionPeter Martin: Time for cool heads and hard data
Repeat after me. The Government is not our friend. It might like to think it still is, but it has proved far too unreliable, inconsistent and devious a companion for that. Now that’s not to say, we shouldn’t perhaps try to be civil and ready to do business – but a lot more openness and honesty on our political leaders’ part needs to be forthcoming before trust with the hospitality sector is going to be restored.