Business News Round Up (30/03/2020)
CBI Scotland urges further business rates relief
CBI Scotland has called for more firms to be exempt from business rates to help combat the economic shock caused by the coronavirus outbreak. The calls comes as a report by leading economic consultancy, The Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) warned that Scotland’s GDP could plunge 17% in the next quarter, and decline by between 5% and 6% this year, warning that the impact of the pandemic would be worse in Scotland than the rest of the UK.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/cbi-scotland-urges-further-business-rates-relief-krhpgbxtl
Big surge in distress sales even before the virus – top agent
Arlington Residential, a London based independent estate agency, has revealed there has been a significant rise in foreclosure sales in the housing market even before the outbreak of the coronavirus. Director Marc Schneiderman states that during the lockdown period there will be almost no new business, with predatory buyers seeking to take advantage of the crisis as people are forced to sell at significant discounts.
Scottish firm GTS Solutions offers free cyber security training
GTS Solutions has partnered with Lucy Security, a global supplier of cyber security training software, to offer free cyber security training designed to make businesses more resilient against fraud during the coronavirus crisis. The online course is being introduced as an emergency response to the impact from the pandemic. The aim is to provide remote workers with additional knowledge to minimise the potential for hacking phishing and other cyberattacks arising from the sudden change in working conditions and educate people on safer ways to work from home.
Deal leads to creation of £270m seafood business
A long established seafood company has expanded with an acquisition, leading to the creation of a £270 million pan-European group. Skye Seafood successfully acquired Klaas Puul from the Dutch Seafood Company and H2 Equity Partners. The combination of Sykes Seafood and Klaas Puul will create a €300m (£270m) European wide seafood business with expertise in all species of shrimp that will offer customers across Europe a wide range of high-quality products in chilled and frozen formats for the retail, foodservice and manufacturing sectors.