Aviation, FTSE 100, covid-19 vaccine, Deliveroo, Tokyo 2020: your commercial news round-up

During this unprecedented time, it is important to consider how the coronavirus pandemic is affecting the business and legal world – so, use this week’s commercial news round-up as a tool to top up your commercial awareness.

• The aviation industry has taken a number of significant blows over the past few weeks, as a result of coronavirus. British Airways (BA) is expecting to announce a suspension of around 36,000 staff after more than a week of negotiations with the Unite union. With some details yet to be signed, the two sides have reached an agreement meaning that 80% of BA cabin crew, ground staff, engineers and staff working at the head office will be suspended; no redundancies are expected.

Elsewhere, after its final rescue flight on Sunday EasyJet announced that it will be placing its cabin crew on a two-month absence leave, grounding all flights, while Virgin Atlantic is seeking a large injection of cash – its search for a bailout has been backed by some of aviation’s biggest companies, including Airbus and Rolls-Royce.

• Tuesday 31 March marked the end of the financial quarter, as well as the FTSE 100’s worst quarter since 1987. Despite Britain’s top share index being up by 1.95% at the close of trading on Tuesday, it has lost of quarter of its value this year.

In addition, Refinitiv – a global provider of financial market data and infrastructure – has revealed that in 2020’s first quarter global M&A activity was down 28% compared to the same quarter in 2019, at £560 billion. Refinitiv’s director of deals intelligence Matt Toole stated: “Global M&A plummeted last week, two weeks after effects were seen on global equity issuance, as the world comes to terms with the seriousness of the coronavirus pandemic and its impact on both human health and the global economy.”

The UK’s credit rating has also been hit after being downgraded from AA to AA- following the coronavirus outbreak and uncertainty surrounding Brexit.

• According to Sky News, Johnson & Johnson – the world’s largest pharmaceutical company – has pledged to make a ‘not-for profit’ covid-19 vaccine, with talks of human trials beginning in September 2020.  

• Among other closures in the hospitality industry, restaurant chain Carluccio’s has gone into administration, putting 2,000 jobs at risk. It has also been announced that Disneyland and Walt Disney World will remain closed for the foreseeable future due to the outbreak.

• To end on a more positive note, as the coronavirus pandemic continues, food delivery service Deliveroo has vowed to deliver 500,000 free meals to NHS workers across Britain. Deliveroo customers will be able to donate funds to help buy meals for doctors and nurses via the updated app. In additional positive news, following last week’s unprecedented postponement of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has announced that the games will now take place exactly a year later – from 23 July to 8 August 2021 – and the Paralympic Games will take place from 24 August to 5 September 2021. President of the IOC Thomas Bach stated: “With this announcement, I am confident that, working together with the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, the Japanese Government and all our stakeholders, we can master this unprecedented challenge. Humankind currently finds itself in a dark tunnel. These Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 can be a light at the end of this tunnel.”

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