Headlines
• UK R0 falls below 1.0
• Wales announces new restrictions
• Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine to be assessed by the regulator
• Arcadia’s talks with lenders have failed, risking administration
Company news
Media
• Reach – “Circulation sales have remained resilient despite the recent lockdowns, supported by management action on availability and increased cross-promotion of national and regional titles. Overall, for the five months to 22 November 2020, a decline in print revenue of 19.6% contributed to a group revenue decline of 13.9%.”
Retail
• Arcadia – “the pandemic has had a material impact on trading across our businesses.
As a result, the Arcadia boards have been working on a number of contingency options to secure the future of the group's brands. The brands continue to trade and our stores will be opening again in England and the Republic of Ireland as soon as the government Covid-19 restrictions are lifted next week.”
Travel & Leisure
• Wetherspoon (J.D.) – “Wetherspoon announces that it has 13 pubs in England that are classified as tier one. In addition, there are 51 pubs in Wales, where the regulations approximate to tier one in England.
Tier two comprises 435 pubs. This tier includes 17 pubs in Scotland where the regulations approximate to tier two in England.
The company has 366 pubs that will remain closed. Of these 315 are in tier three in England, and 51 are in Northern Ireland and Scotland. These 51 pubs have similar restrictions to tier three in England. This group of pubs will remain closed, since opening for takeaways, for example, is unlikely to be a realistic proposition.”
Other
• New restrictions are coming into force in Wales. Pubs, restaurants and bars will be subject to tougher restrictions from 4 December. Cinemas, bowling alleys and indoor entertainment venues will also have to close.
• The Oxford vaccine has been referred to the UK medicines regulator as part of a “significant first step” in getting it approved for use, the government has said. It comes a week after the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency was asked to assess the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.
• Employers notified the government of plans to cut up to 51,000 jobs in October, more than double the number at the same time last year. But the losses are lower than the peaks in June, July and September
• The UK’s R number has fallen to 0.9-1.0, according to new figures from SAGE.
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