The OECD warns on the global economy and the UKs prospects – Covid-19 business news 11 June 2020.

11 June 2020.

James Salmon, Operations Director.

We look at the latest comments from the OECD, the latest news on Covid-19, the markets and the Federal Reserve, support for tech start ups, Moodys & the CBI warn on no-deal Brexit, insolvencies, accountants and much much more.

The Covid-19 lock-down continues and we are having to make do in a new normal.

Here are CPA we want to  share the business news stories we have seen that we think will affect our members and readers. Many of us are busy fighting to protect our businesses and therefore might have missed some of the news that could impact small businesses, their owners and those that sell on credit.

Covid-19 general news

Global cases pass 7.3 million; deaths exceed 416,000

The U.K.’s top scientists said the government made a string of failures in its handling of the covid-19 crisis, putting Boris Johnson under pressure on live television. Standing next to the prime minister, the country’s Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty appeared to call him out on a “long list” of potentially flawed decisions that will need to be reviewed. The epidemiologist admitted that his greatest regret was the U.K.’s slow response.

This all came after Johnson had announced further easing of the lock-down. From this weekend, the government will allow single adult households in England – so adults living alone, or single parents with children under 18 – to form a support bubble with one other household. All those in the bubble will be able to act as if they live in the same household.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has confirmed that pubs and restaurants will not reopen fully before 4 July. Johnson told MPs today that the government would follow its original plan to open the hospitality sector next month, despite speculation to the contrary.

Covid-19 infections are rising fast in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan and hospitals are already struggling to cope.

A second wave of coronavirus cases is emerging in the U.S., raising alarms as new infections push the overall count past 2 million Americans.

Markets.

Shares in London tracked sideways yesterday with defensive shares mostly performing well and cyclical stocks generally weaker. The FTSE 100 ended the day 6 points lower at 6329. As investors watched for Federal Reserves policy meeting.

Investors also listened as the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation & Development (OECD) said the global economy will contract at least 6% this year due to shutdowns to contain the covid-19 outbreak

Oil prices fell more than 2% after a report showed a rise in crude inventories in the USA.

Gold prices rose for a third straight day, supported by a weaker dollar and expectations the Federal Reserve will maintain its accommodative policy to support the U.S. economy.

Jerome Powell, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, said it “was not even thinking about thinking about raising” interest rates, which it cut in March to near zero, until the end of 2022. America’s central bank said it would continue to buy government debt at the current pace and use its “full range of tools” to bolster the economy. In the fourth quarter of 2020 it expects GDP to be 6.5% lower than a year earlier and unemployment to be 9.5%.

Treasuries bulls were energized by the policy decision, gold futures got a boost and traders said the pledges should be positive for equities and credit, too

Asian stocks fell and European and U.S. stock futures are trending lower after a sobering update from the Fed on the economic outlook, undercutting the hopes for a V-shaped recovery that have propelled the rally in equities.

OECD issues UK warning on economy

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has cautioned that the UK will suffer the largest economic effect from the coronavirus crisis among major nations this year, with the economy at risk of contracting between 11.5% and 14%.

OECD chief economist Laurence Boone stated: “By the end of 2021, the loss of income exceeds that of any previous recession over the last 100 years outside wartime, with dire and long-lasting consequences for people, firms and governments. As long as no vaccine or treatment is widely available, policymakers around the world will continue to walk on a tightrope.”

The OECD, also warned that the pandemic will leave “long-lasting scars” on the world economy. Even if a second wave of infections is avoided, the OECD expects global output to fall by 6% in 2020. The tourism, hospitality and entertainment industries are being hit particularly hard, affecting low-skilled and young workers.

Government gives tech start-ups support to expand overseas

The Department for International Trade and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport have announced new measures to help UK tech start-ups expand overseas. The scheme includes a trade network to help small businesses break into the Asian market and a tech exporting academy to advise firms on issues around expansion.

Angel Gurría warns of trade war without deal on digital tax

The head of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has said there is a risk a widespread trade war if countries cannot agree on an approach for taxing tech giants.

Angel Gurría told the BBC that a trade war between “dozens and dozens of countries” is the last thing we need as the world struggles with the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The OECD has been overseeing talks aimed at reaching a multilateral deal for over a year and they are due to conclude at the end of 2020

Moody’s warns of no-deal damage

Credit ratings agency Moody’s has warned that a no-deal Brexit is becoming increasingly likely and if it transpires it would “significantly damage the UK’s potentially fragile recovery from its deepest recession in almost a century”.

CBI comments on Brexit

Dame Carolyn Fairbairn will hand over as director-general of the CBI to Tony Danker at the end of the year. Mr Danker is CEO of Be the Business, a charity working with businesses to boost UK productivity, and a former McKinsey consultant.

Speaking with the BBC, Dame Carolyn warned that the “resilience of British business is absolutely on the floor” and they couldn’t cope with a no-deal Brexit as well as recovering from the coronavirus.

“As one member put it to me – just because the house is on fire, it doesn’t make it ok to set fire to the garden shed.

“If we have a political timescale that takes us to a brinksmanship deal in December that will be catastrophic for British business – they will not be ready.

“Small businesses were not ready last time there was a no-deal Brexit threat – this time they will not have had a moment to prepare for it.”

“Every penny of cash that had been stored up, all the stockpiles prepared have been run down.

“The firms that I speak to have not a spare moment to plan for a no trade deal Brexit at the end of the year – that is the common sense voice that needs to find its way into these negotiations.”

Barnier wants end to City’s financial and legal services dominance

The EU’s chief Brexit negotiator has said London should lose its status as a European centre for financial and legal services after Brexit. Michel Barnier told representatives of the European Economic and Social Committee that the UK should not be allowed to become a stepping stone into the EU market or a manufacturing hub for the bloc after the end of the transition period this year

Accountants slammed over COVID fees

Birmingham City Council has received complaints that accountants have been charging small firms £1,000 to fill out COVID-19 grant forms, which the Birmingham Post says take an estimated five minutes to complete online.

ECB

The European Central Bank may expand its crisis-fighting toolkit in the future but is not planning to do so imminently, a board member said, playing down the possibility of the central bank buying bonds issued by banks or by junk-rated companies. The ECB last week boosted its Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme to €1.35 trillion, leading to investor speculation that the central bank could expand on buying government and corporate bonds.

Fewer accounting firms, but bookkeepers increase

The accountancy profession in the UK lost 490 firms between 2017 and 2019 following significant expansion in previous years, according to a new report from Edinburgh-based cash flow company Float. The industry witnessed average growth of 1,212 new companies per year between 2011 and 2017.

Float boss and co-founder Colin Hewitt said: “Accounting firms have demonstrated their immense value during the COVID-19 pandemic, helping struggling businesses stay afloat and informing them of their financial options. Which is why many will be concerned to see the number of UK accounting firms in decline.”

However, Hewitt adds: “While accounting firms have seen a net decrease, bookkeepers remain in an accelerated growth phase – regular book-keeping is the cornerstone of any business’ financial data. Cloud accounting services, smartphones and the introduction of Open Banking mean book-keepers can scale up like never before.”

Premier League faces £1bn virus loss

Premier League clubs are set for a loss of £1bn in revenue in their 2019-20 accounts owing to the coronavirus pandemic, according to Deloitte.

Top-flight sides will face a permanent loss of £500m due to rebates to broadcasters and the loss of matchday revenue. A further £500m will be deferred and recouped in 2020-21 if the competition is able to complete this season and next.

Deloitte also found that chasing greater riches in the Premier League saw Championship clubs lose a combined total of £300m on record revenues of £785m.

Dan Jones, the head of Deloitte’s sports business group, said a salary cap could solve the problem in a stroke. “If Formula One can do it, if Premiership Rugby can do it, I don’t see why the Championship can’t do it. The need is more urgent and more long-standing in the Championship than it is even in those other sports.”

Quiz places its property arm in administration

Glasgow-headquartered fashion retailer Quiz has placed its stores division, Kast Retail Limited, into administration under a restructuring that sees the loss of more than 90 jobs. Quiz said it would then buy the business back for £1.3m through another subsidiary called Zandra, in a pre-pack deal. Blair Nimmo, joint administrator and head of restructuring for KPMG said: “A combination of a highly challenging environment for bricks-and-mortar retailers during recent years and the COVID-19 lockdown have proven impossible for [Quiz subsidiary] KRL to overcome.”

The Times’ Alistair Osborne dissects Quiz’s pre-pack, suggesting instead of dumping £6m of liabilities boss Tarak Ramzan could have put some of the £90m he extracted from the float back into the company. The paper’s Alex Ralph notes that of several pre-packs announced yesterday only Everest, which was sold back to Jon Moulton’s priv ate equity firm Better Capital, was referred to the Pre-Pack Pool. Ralph says there are growing calls for referrals to be made mandatory.

Simon buys back Monsoon and Accessorize chain

Peter Simon, the founder of Monsoon and Accessorize has bought back the fashion and accessories chain out of administration in a pre-pack deal that will see 35 stores permanently closed and 545 immediate redundancies. Some 450 jobs have been transferred to another vehicle, Adena Brands. Mr Simon said that both Monsoon and Accessorize had been “trading well” before the pandemic, but could not withstand the impact of the lockdown forcing the closure of all its shops for the past three months

Restaurant Group in cost-cutting move as 125 sites shut

Some 125 sites operated by the Restaurant Group are to close with around 3,000 jobs affected. The Italian-American-themed Frankie & Benny’s chain will be most severely affected by the move. The firm has launched a company voluntary arrangement which will be run by Alix Partners, and if approved, will leave it with 160 sites in its so-called leisure estate.

Triple lock could push state pension up by 21.3% by 2022

New analysis by Willis Towers Watson senior consultant David Robbins, has suggested that triple locked state pensions could rise by as much as 21.3% over a two-year period if there is a V-shaped economic recovery. He warned that lockdown lifting could see a significant pension rise in 2022 under the current uprating policy, if average earnings growth was negative in 2020 and strongly positive in 2021

 

EU urged to tackle insolvency laws for unified capital market

An official expert group has urged Brussels to reform the EU’s fragmented insolvency laws and create more uniform shareholder rights in order to deepen its capital markets.

Don’t let Covid-19 bust your business!

 It will if your cash flow dries up, either sooner or later.

The Credit Protection Association (CPA) has been assisting thousands of UK businesses to get paid since 1914. We have seen many financial crises, this one will be particularly deadly for suppliers for sometime to come.

CPA eases cash from tardy debtors – Efficiently, Effectively, Economically and Ethically. Above all tactfully, because maintenance of goodwill is paramount.

To meet the needs of creditors in the current crisis, we have designed a “critical care” package especially tailored for the situation.

  • The annual package costs start at very low rates
  • A minimum performance warranty is provided
  • Several complimentary services included

Clients instruct CPA on-line via their PC or phone, completely user-friendly. Your late paying customers are told to pay you direct (not to us).

A very recent report shows a 23% increase in the number of unpaid invoices since March 11th THIS YEAR – are you getting a build-up of late payers?

 Right now, overdue accounts must be a concern and CPA has a great track record of encouraging slow-payers to pay their suppliers quickly.

It takes less than 17 minutes to see how you would benefit, do you have the time now?

No face-to-face meeting required – just call Peter Uwins, CPA’s National Sales Manager, on 020 8846 0000 (business hours) or email nsm@cpa.co.uk today.

When you see your money come in, you will be so glad you used CPA.

Do you sell on credit?

With pressures on the cash flow it is essential that you stay on top of the credit limits you grant customers and watch carefully for any late payments.

Those customers will look for the easiest option  to boost their cash-flow. Don’t let it be you.

You can’t just assume your customers can and will pay you eventually, no matter how big their name is.

It is essential to have credit management systems in place to monitor and check your customers credit worthiness.

It is also best practice to use a trusted third party like CPA to make sure you are paid on time by customers, no matter how good a name they have.

About CPA

The Credit Protection Association can help!

Formed in 1914, CPA has been providing credit management services to SMEs for over 100 years.

At the Credit Protection Association, we provide first class credit information that can help you avoid being over extended to customers who are at risk. Our monitoring service can flag up warning signs long before the end, giving you the chance to adjust and reduce your exposure. We provide recommended credit limits and credit scores on a traffic light system and can help you set appropriate credit policies for your customers.

We regularly publish lists of the latest insolvencies but by then it is too late. Our credit reports however predict approximately 96% of company insolvencies long before they arrive.

Companies in trouble usually have very bad cash flow and they try to deal with it by delaying payment to their suppliers, increasing your exposure to them.

If you supply on credit, help us help you identify the risks.

Why use a third party collector?

As a third party collector, we can also get your payments prioritised over those who are not as hot on collections. When your customer receives a letter from the Credit Protection Association regarding their outstanding account, they are going to want to get that resolved as a priority. Our overdue account recovery service can get your unpaid invoices to the top of their “to do” list and get your invoice paid.

Over the years we have collected billions in overdue invoices for our customers.

Our debt recovery and credit management services give our members the financial freedom needed to grow and prosper, while our new Late Payment Compensation department could unlock hidden potential and offer the compensation needed to springboard your business to success.

You might be hesitant about contacting a debt collection agency. What are they going to be like?

Can they help your particular type of business?

There is no need for concern. CPA are courteous, helpful and very probably have had direct experience of working with your type of business.

Debt collection agencies are not all alike.

Success lies in both recovering money and keeping customers happy. The Credit Protection Association was founded in 1914 and  has helped tens of thousands of UK businesses to collect outstanding payments and reduce the risk of incurring bad debt. We believe that creditors deserve to be paid for the work or goods they have supplied but we fully understand the need to maintain
the best possible relationship with customers!

At The Credit Protection Association, we provide solutions, advice and back-up in all areas relating to the supply of services or goods on account. Client-members receive everything they need from a single source to reduce debtor days and write-offs.

The Credit Protection Association has helped has assisted tens of thousands of UK businesses with their credit control requirements, since the First World War.

We are polite, firm and efficient when it comes to recovering outstanding debt.

“We have used CPA for a number of years now. The website is easy to navigate around with lots of helpful reports. The staff are always at hand and very friendly. CPA has  helped us reduce our debt over the years and keep track of potential issues with our customers.”
~ CPA client in Buckinghamshire

“The service from CPA has proved to be everything that you said it would be. We have already seen a huge benefit. We have had a number of overdue accounts paid promptly and directly to us. It is also a huge weight off our mind to know that once we have passed an overdue payment over to you, you take care of everything whilst keeping us informed.
~ Credit Controller client in Warrington

The Credit Protection Association – Prompting Punctual Payments – Ethical, Effective, Efficient, Economical collections

 

Ready to speak to an advisor?

For help or advice on credit management, entirely without obligation.

Call us today

0330 053 9263

CPA is passionate about late payment

The Credit Protection Association has been protecting smaller firms against poor payment practices for over 100 years.

We are extremely passionate about breaking the late payment culture that holds back the UK economy and threatens many SMEs with cash flow difficulties being the single biggest killer of Britain’s small businesses.

If you were regularly paid late we can help. Those former customers used you to boost their own cashflow, regularly paying you late.

As a result you had extra costs, you had the distraction of having to chase payment, you had opportunity costs because your capital was tied up in their late invoices.

Under little used legislation, you are entitled to compensation for those late payments.

Now you can boost your own cash-flow.

CPA can help unearth the those hidden treasures.

We have the technology to reveal the compensation you are due and we have the extensive experience and expertise to then turn those claims into cash.

Yes, CPA can help you boost your business cash-flow.

Don’t let your bankers control you, contact CPA today.

The Credit Protection Association – Prompting Punctual Payments – Ethical, Effective, Efficient, Economical collections

Read our blog here on how to crack down on the late payment culture.

Read our blog here on how to give late payers the slap they need.

The “Why” of the late payment culture.

New PM should walk the walk and back small firms over late payments

Paying late is “crack cocaine” to big business.

Late payment culture risks “spiraling out of control”

visit our late payment compensation page

See our full blog and FAQ on late payment compensation

Do you realise you could be sitting on a fortune?

Late payments often result in a cash flow crunch and leave SMEs in need of a cash injection.

If you sold B2B on credit then there may be a hidden source of capital you can call on.

If you fancy an bit of extra cash in your business, rather than jumping through hoops with your bank, you could look to uncover the resources from an unexpected source within your own business.

Not many are aware but there could be a hidden fortune within your business, sitting there, just waiting to be uncovered and released.

We can help you uncover the pile of gold, you didn’t even know you were sitting on.

If you trade with other businesses and were often paid late then you could be entitled to significant compensation.

Under little known and under-utilised legislation your business could be due huge amounts in compensation that you didn’t even know about.

Let’s be clear – this is not a way to weaken any customer relationships you value. It is one that identifies who’s been paying late and then recover the potentially significant sums in compensation using Late Payment Legislation from businesses where the relationship has already ended.

You can pick and choose who you want us to follow up – but once we’ve agreed which companies you’d like to pursue compensation from it’s a fast process and there’s no financial outlay to you whatsoever. My team at CPA put its expertise to work to recover the compensation due and fight late payment culture.

That compensation could provide the cash boost your business needed.

But don’t delay, that compensation evaporates if not claimed within six years of the late payment.

How can CPA help?

CPA has developed a unique technology to dig into your accounting records and discover the cash injection you are due by means of compensation. The software does all the hard work. Our software interacts over the cloud with over 300 different software packages, working directly with your accounts package, just so long as it’s stored on a computer.

We recognise that most companies do not have the resources to spend time on the identification and calculation of Late Payment Compensation. Our service can produce an Analyses within just a few days with (usually) less than 30 mins of co-operation from our clients. We work directly with over 300 accounting packages but can also work with bespoke accounts packages. Indeed, speed is essential as the oldest invoices may fall foul of the 6-year time limit.

Once the Sales Ledger Analyses is made available to clients, all that is required is that management decide which commercially sensitive ex-customers to remove from the list and return it to us.

CPA then uses its years of collection experience to explain and recover the Late Payment Compensation Claims. Clients do not handle any part of the recovery process as our team will take all communications from the companies against who the claims has been made. Often, it’s simply a case of explaining the legislation, sometimes we have to go all the way and enforce the legislation through the courts.

The result is that we are realising clients’ claims worth tens and sometimes hundreds of thousands of pounds which, of course, is pure net profit.  You may also be among the recipients of “hundreds of thousands of pounds” should you elect to take advantage of our services.

We do the work, you receive the cash.

If you have supplied goods and services to businesses on credit and were regularly paid late then you could be due significant sums in late payment compensation.

We are talking to companies and unearthing claims in the hundreds of thousands from former business customers who paid them late. Large business customers who abused their power to inflict unfair and sometimes illegal payment practices.

We are helping business owners  who are looking to boost the returns from their business before they retire. We are helping businesses who have lost major clients after years of loyal service to get properly compensated for systematic late payment. We are helping companies that were looking to close down, who looked insolvent and finding that cash injection they need to avoid insolvency.

Those former clients who regularly paid you late can finally be made to pay.

Ready to speak to an advisor?

For help or advice on credit management, entirely without obligation.

Call us today

0330 053 9263

The Credit Protection Association is a credit management company established in 1914. If you supply goods or services on credit then we can help you!

The Credit Protection Association – Prompting Punctual Payments – Ethical, Effective, Efficient, Economical collections

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The Credit Protection Association – Prompting Punctual Payments – Ethical, Effective, Efficient, Economical collections