Publicans loaned £138m to own businesses in battle for survival November 1, 2021 Pub owners injected £138m in loans to their own businesses to keep them afloat during the pandemic. Private equity investment firm Growthdeck found that some 1,730 UK pubs and bar companies ran so short of cash last year that their directors had to make loans to them from their own personal resources. As hospitality venues [...]
Budget 2021: UK launches new Covid-19 business loan scheme March 3, 2021 Chancellor Rishi Sunak today unveiled a new loan scheme to support businesses hit by the pandemic, replacing previous emergency government funding. The Recovery Loans Scheme will offer loans from £25,000 to £10m up to the end of the year, with the government providing lenders with a 80 per cent guarantee. The programme replaces the Bounce [...]
UK Finance chair Bob Wigley: We need to create ‘reasons for banks to be in London’ July 4, 2022 Bob Wigley, a seasoned City veteran, knows a thing or two about banking. He has chaired UK Finance, the British banking sector’s representative body, since its creation in 2017 by condensing several lobby groups into one. He was also instrumental in setting up TheCityUK, spent over a decade with investment banking giant Merrill Lynch and [...]
Franco Manca operator Fulham Shore beats expectations in H1 2021 September 29, 2021 The operator of Franco Manca and The Real Greek beat expectations for the first half of 2021 despite the challenge of ongoing Covid restrictions. The restaurant operator faced tough conditions during the first half of the financial year, which began on 29 March 2021 during the UK’s third COVID-19 lockdown, and was forced to trade [...]
Franco Manca operator Fulham Shore beats expectations in H1 2021 : CityAM September 29, 2021 The operator of Franco Manca and The Real Greek beat expectations for the first half of 2021 despite the challenge of ongoing Covid restrictions. The restaurant operator faced tough conditions during the first half of the financial year, which began on 29 March 2021 during the UK’s third COVID-19 lockdown, and was forced to trade [...]
OakNorth boss Rishi Khosla is braced for the next economic crisis May 13, 2022 Rishi Khosla has become rather used to dealing with economic crises over the past seven years.
London businesses received £16bn through government support schemes July 6, 2021 London businesses took more than £16bn in taxpayer money through the government’s two largest Covid-19 support schemes, it was revealed today. The British Business Bank, which administers the scheme, said that the proportion of the lending to the capital’s business community was about 20 per cent of the national total. That’s broadly in line with [...]
Covid emergency loan schemes push UK challenger bank lending to record high August 30, 2021 Lending by British challenger banks surged to a record high last year driven by businesses rushing to capitalise on emergency Covid loan schemes, according to new figures published today. Research by accountancy firm BDO shows challenger bank lending climbed 11 per cent over the last year to £143bn, a record high, up from £128bn in [...]
200,000 more people furloughed last month as 4.7m are still on the scheme March 25, 2021 Another 200,000 people were put on furlough for the first time last month as the government paid out nearly £4bn to cover wages. HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) said it had paid £57.7bn in furlough cash to around 11.4m people since the pandemic began. Around 4.7m people were still on furlough by the end of [...]
MarketFinance raises £280m and enrols as UK Covid recovery lender September 21, 2021 Business lender MarketFinance is gearing up to provide loans to UK businesses as they recover and grow post-pandemic through the government’s Recovery Loan Scheme (RLS), after raising £280m debt and equity in its latest fundraising round. The British fintech, which hit profitability in March, was one of the first fintechs after Funding Circle to be [...]