Business News Round Up (30/04/2020)
UK suffers biggest drop in lockdown job vacancies
The number of advertised job vacancies in the UK has plummeted since the coronavirus lockdown started, new research has revealed. The closure of employment heavy sectors such as hospitality, catering, retail and manufacturing has led to a drop in vacancies. Hospitality and catering has seen an 82% drop in vacancies in the past 10 weeks, while retail is down 57% in the past week alone. The downturn marks an additional loss of 40,000 jobs week on week as economic uncertainty around output and consumption continue to take hold in the UK. Research by job search engine Adzuna shows the property sector has lost 70% of all vacancies in the past 10 weeks while manufacturing has 64% fewer. Traditional office roles are also starting to feel the strain with sales (down 78%), administration (77%), and HR vacancies (77%) falling to their lowest levels in more than eight years.
https://dailybusinessgroup.co.uk/2020/04/uk-suffers-biggest-drop-in-lockdown-job-vacancies/
New hospitality tracker sees first quarter sales drop 21.3%
The UK hospitality sector saw sales decline 21.3% in the first quarter of 2020, as the country and the industry moved into COVID-19 lockdown, figures from the newly launched UKHospitality Quarterly Tracker reveal. In the most comprehensive analysis of the UK hospitality market ever undertaken, combining data from all sub-segments of hospitality, the cliff edge impact of the Government-imposed lockdown can be seen with hospitality among the first sectors impacted by the crisis. The drop in trading across the nation’s pubs, hotels, restaurants, bars, clubs and attractions in the first three months of the year is concentrated in March as figures show total annualised sales across the hospitality sector at £126.8 billion, down 2.7% on the previous 12 months.
https://aboutmanchester.co.uk/new-hospitality-tracker-sees-first-quarter-sales-drop-21-3/
Scottish retail sales contract 1.1% in the first quarter of 2020
Retail sales in Scotland fell by 1.1% during the first quarter of 2020, before coronavirus lockdown measures were enforced. Statistics published by the Chief Statistician show the amount of retail goods bought in Scotland fell 1.1% during the period of January to March, the UK as a whole saw a 1.6% contraction. Compared to the same time last year, the amount of retail goods bought in Scotland contracted by ‑1.7%. In Great Britain as a whole over the same period, sales contracted by -1.8%.
https://www.gov.scot/news/scottish-retail-sales-contract-1-1-percent-in-the-first-quarter-of-2020/
Further £23.7m allocated for investment into North West SMEs
Maven Capital Partners has secured £23.7 million from the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund (NPIF) as it continues to back SMEs in the North West of England. Maven was first awarded the Northern Powerhouse Investment mandate for equity investments in the North West of the UK in 2017 and since then has invested £33 million into 49 small and medium SME’s, creating 382 roles within the North West region. The Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund is supported by the European Union using funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020 and the European Investment Bank.