Headlines

British pub chain JD Wetherspoon has suspended payments to its suppliers in the Republic until its pubs reopen after the coronavirus crisis, The Irish Times reported. The company confirmed to The Irish Times that, in line with its UK policy, it has sought a moratorium on payments until its outlets reopen. In an e-mail first reported by UK sustainability website Footprint, the company wrote: “We are asking for a moratorium on payments until the pubs reopen, at which point we intend to clear outstanding payments within a short timeframe.

A licenced insolvency trustee in Charlottetown is calling on the federal government to put in measures to help Islanders who are dealing with job loss also deal with their debt repayment and avoid bankruptcy, The Guardian reported. "People are stressed and scared, said Walter MacKinnon, who is also vice-president with MNP in Charlottetown. He said one type of call he has been receiving recently is from people who have made an insolvency proposal that has been accepted.

Aer Lingus is laying off more than 60 contract workers who argue they qualify for Government payments to businesses that keep staff in jobs during the coronavirus crisis, The Irish Times reported. The airline told staff last week that it was cutting pay by 50 per cent in an effort to see the company through the coronavirus pandemic that has grounded flights across Europe and the United States and brought its industry to a standstill.

As the coronavirus outbreak roils credit markets around the world, Asia is under particular threat. The region has led the world in economic growth for years as debt helped fuel frenetic construction of airports, bridges and apartment towers for millions of people moving into cities, Bloomberg News reported. That model is now running up against an unprecedented spike in borrowing costs, as investors who piled into the region’s riskiest debt at a record pace grow anxious.

Few emerging-market currencies have been spared as the spread of the coronavirus causes investors to dump riskier assets and the dollar to surge. But Africa has been hit harder than most -- and the signs are there’s worse to come, Bloomberg News reported. Kenya’s shilling, Angola’s kwanza and Zambia’s kwacha have all fallen to record lows this month. Ghana’s cedi and South Africa’s rand are close to that point. And while Nigeria’s already devalued the naira, most investors say it’ll have to do so again.

As lockdowns shutter stores and keep consumers cooped up at home, there will be many losers from the outbreak of the Covid-19 virus. But there will also be a few winners, Bloomberg News reported in a commentary. Casino Guichard Perrachon SA, the French supermarket operator that’s been a target for short-selling hedge funds, is emerging as a beneficiary, in line with other grocers seeing a frantic stockpiling of food on both sides of the Atlantic. While Casino’s complex financial structure has long been a source of consternation, there are some jewels in its highly leveraged crown.

Billionaire John Fredriksen’s Seadrill Ltd. re-hired long time adviser Houlihan Lokey Inc. to engage in fresh talks with lenders, people familiar with the situation said, Bloomberg News reported. The drilling operator, which was already struggling before the coronavirus outbreak, plans to negotiate with creditors after its business was hurt further by the historic slump in oil prices over recent weeks, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private.

The U.K. government’s rescue plan for small and medium sized companies may be only three days old, but there’s growing concern it won’t be able to stave off a wave of bankruptcies in the world’s fifth-largest economy, Bloomberg News reported. On Wednesday, a chorus of voices ranging from lawmakers to small business trade groups said the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme, or CBILS, is too reliant on commercial banks and their traditional underwriting methods to rapidly deliver cash to desperate companies.

France, Italy and Spain and six other euro area governments have called for the issuance of joint European debt to finance the fight against coronavirus, setting up a clash with capitals including Berlin that believe the move is premature, the Financial Times reported. In a joint letter to European Council president Charles Michel, leaders from the nine countries said the EU needed “to work on a common debt instrument issued by a European institution to raise funds on the market on the same basis and to the benefits of all member states”.

SoftBank Group Corp. lashed out at Moody’s Corp. after its debt was downgraded by two notches, accusing the ratings company of “bias” and “creating substantial misunderstanding” days after the investment group announced a $41 billion asset sale program intended to shore up confidence, Bloomberg News reported. SoftBank’s shares slid as much as 8.4% early in Tokyo trade. The Moody’s downgrade -- lowering SoftBank’s corporate family rating and senior unsecured rating to Ba3 from Ba1 -- pushed the company deeper into junk territory.