Two thirds of UK firms 'fully operational' after COVID, survey says

By David Milliken

 

FILE PHOTO: Office buildings are pictured in the City of London financial district, following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in London, Britain July 17, 2020. REUTERS/Hannah McKay/File Photo

 

LONDON (Reuters) - Two thirds of British businesses say they are now "fully operational" after the coronavirus lockdown, up from half in June, according to a survey on Sunday.

 

A further 21% of the firms, polled in the first half of July by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), said they were partly operational with some premises still closed.

 

"With businesses gradually reopening, this month's data seems to indicate a turning point for the economy," said Alpesh Paleja, an economist for CBI, one of Britain's main business lobby groups.

 

But many firms, especially those in consumer-facing sectors, remained in "acute financial distress", he added.

 

Britain's lockdown has been slowly lifting since May, with the last major change on July 4 when hotels, pubs and restaurants were allowed to reopen.

 

However, on Friday Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was postponing further relaxation, which would have helped some arts and entertainment venues, due to rising cases.

 

Businesses on average said they were operating at 85% of usual capacity due to social distancing, compared with 72% when a stricter rule generally requiring two metres of distance was in force.

 

Lack of demand from customers continued to be businesses' most common challenge to resuming normal operations, the CBI said. More than two thirds of firms named it as a barrier to normal operations, down slightly from three quarters in June.

 

The Bank of England is due to set out new quarterly forecasts on Thursday, as different sectors of the economy recover at different rates from the unprecedented economic damage.

 

Whether the main barrier to growth is lack of consumer demand, or businesses' difficulties meeting it, will be key to the central bank's decisions on stimulus later this year.

 

(Reporting by David Milliken; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-08-02

 

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uk working at 66% sounds great after the incurred losses,

now just devalue currency and you can be competitive 

2 hours ago, rooster59 said:

LONDON (Reuters) - Two thirds of British businesses say they are now "fully operational" after the coronavirus lockdown, up from half in June, according to a survey on Sunday.

Or put another way, 33% of UK businesses are not fully operational due to 1 death in every 12,000 world wide populace !

3 hours ago, scammed said:

uk working at 66% sounds great after the incurred losses,

now just devalue currency and you can be competitive 

It sounds like a positive for a change but.....  As from Friday people being furloughed now have to have a contribution from employers and many have said that they cannot afford to do that and will have to let people go.  Estimates vary but it will certainly be many thousands who will lose their jobs.

UK's performance nothing like as bad as portrayed in most of the print and broadcasting media. Numbers of deaths from covid 19 have been vastly over-stated by the inclusion of people previously infected by the virus but actually dying from other causes.

 Covid survey says .

    Fake News ..

9 hours ago, Thingamabob said:

UK's performance nothing like as bad as portrayed in most of the print and broadcasting media. Numbers of deaths from covid 19 have been vastly over-stated by the inclusion of people previously infected by the virus but actually dying from other causes.

Complete B.S.! 

45,000 official covid 19 deaths and 65,000 excess deaths! Covid-19 death in UK are largely underestimated.

https://www.ft.com/content/a2901ce8-5eb7-4633-b89c-cbdf5b386938

 

On 8/2/2020 at 2:45 PM, rooster59 said:

Two thirds of UK firms 'fully operational' after COVID, survey says

Silly headline. There is no "after Covid" as it is with us forever. It may be controlled, but it's not going away.

If they mean "after the recent lockdown", they should say that.