Small-Business Emergency Loan Program in the UK Threatens to Descend into Chaos by Nick Corbishley • Oct 3, 2020 • 33 Comments A goldmine for enterprising criminals. Even legitimate borrowers face sky-high default rates. Taxpayers to eat the losses.
Work from Home Gets Entrenched: Embraced by Workers & Businesses in the UK, it’s Upending Real Estate, Retail, Restaurants, Bars, Cafés by Nick Corbishley • Sep 3, 2020 • 99 Comments “The contract between society and business has changed forever.”
A Midsummer Nightmare for Tourism: UK, Other Countries Impose Quarantine Requirements on Returnees from Spain as Virus Cases Surge by Nick Corbishley • Jul 28, 2020 • 51 Comments Fresh Tsunami of Cancellations Washes Over Tourism-Dependent Spain amid Fears Borders Will Slam Shut Again.
As the Biggest Restaurant Chains in the UK Fall into Bankruptcy, Attention Turns to KKR & Other PE Firms that Own Them by Nick Corbishley • Jul 4, 2020 • 73 Comments PE firms sit on lots of cash but won’t invest it in their stripped-bare and failing restaurant chains.
UK House Prices in June Fall for First Time Since 2012, Mortgage Approvals Slump to Record Low Despite Reopening by Nick Corbishley • Jul 1, 2020 • 13 Comments Still waiting for the “Pent-up Demand.”
Commercial Real Estate Sellers Expecting Pre-Virus Prices “Are Smoking Dope,” Says UK Fund Manager by Nick Corbishley • Jun 15, 2020 • 35 Comments Capital values across all segments (retail, office, industrial) already fell by 6.1% over the three months from March to May.
Automakers’ Finance Divisions Lobby BoE & UK Gov for Bailout. Auto Sales Collapse 97%, Consumers Apply for Payment Holiday by Nick Corbishley • May 31, 2020 • 44 Comments But auto sales had already dropped three years in a row — before Covid.
What Horrified Fund Managers, Banks & UK’s Pension Minister Said About the Bank of England’s Sudden “We Don’t Rule Out” Negative Interest Rates by Nick Corbishley • May 22, 2020 • 71 Comments “The stimulus the country urgently needs is not experimental and dangerous monetary policy.”
Non-Paying Tenants Trip Up Land Securities, Once UK’s Largest Commercial Property REIT. Stock Plunges by Nick Corbishley • May 14, 2020 • 39 Comments The industry exhorts the government to call out “can pay, won’t pay” retailers, many of them global brands that avoid paying rent despite their cash reserves.
“Something Has Gone Wrong”: UK Government, Banks Screw Up Coronavirus Loans, Small Firms Near Collapse. Better Results in Other Countries by Nick Corbishley • Apr 14, 2020 • 52 Comments Part of the problem is cultural: big banks in the UK don’t like lending to small businesses, especially not at 1.5%.