Business leaders in the North, including a former DUP economy minister, have warned the Northern Ireland Executive that small enterprises and start-ups are in danger of going to the wall because they cannot access any emergency Covid-19 funding, The Irish Times reported. Simon Hamilton, chief executive of Belfast Chamber, and 11 other business leaders, have written to the North’s economy minister to warn that in every sector in the North there are companies currently struggling to keep their doors open because they have fallen victim to a “funding gap”.

British department store chain Debenhams is preparing to enter administration for the second time in a year to protect the business from legal action from creditors during the coronavirus emergency that could have pushed it into liquidation, Reuters reported. The retailer said on Monday it had filed a notice of intent (NOI) to appoint an administrator. With Britain in lockdown during the pandemic, Debenhams’ 142 UK stores are currently closed, while the majority of its 22,000 workers are being paid under the government’s furlough scheme. It continues to trade online.

Arcadia, the fashion empire controlled by Philip Green and his family, is likely to close dozens more of its UK stores, with the coronavirus pandemic compounding already difficult trading conditions, the Financial Times reported. “No decisions have been made at this time,” said a spokesman for the company. But the terms of a rescue plan agreed with its creditors in June last year provided for the possible closure of many more stores than the 22 initially earmarked.

Around noon on Monday, just when customers might have been starting to sidle into Carluccio’s to order a plate of seafood linguine, the 29-year-old Italian restaurant chain went into administration, the Financial Times reported. It was the first major casualty of the coronavirus lockdown in a sector that has been struggling with some major problems for at least the past two years. Debt levels are high and there is too much competition after private equity piled into the “casual dining” market and encouraged expansion.

Debenhams’ owners have put restructuring firms on standby as they consider putting the struggling department store group into administration for the second time in a year, the Financial Times reported.

With the future of many coronavirus hit firms in their hands, British banks, still scarred by the financial crisis, are worried that they are being asked by a desperate government to make loans that will never be repaid, Reuters reported. This caution, combined with the challenges of an unprecedented demand for loans, is testing the British public’s fragile faith in the lenders, which have spent a decade trying to rebuild their battered reputations and capital positions.

Britain’s largest energy supplier Centrica cancelled its 2019 dividend and cut costs in anticipation of an increase in non payments by customers and a drop in demand due to the COVID-19 outbreak, sending its shares to record lows, Reuters reported. The government has ordered sweeping measures to slow the spread of the new coronavirus, shutting down much of the economy and raising the prospect of mass job losses. Shares in the company hit 34.35 pence on Thursday, morning, their lowest level since the company’s inception in 1997.

London-based hedge fund Cheyne Capital’s total return credit fund lost almost a quarter of its value last month as debt markets convulsed over the impact of the deadly coronavirus pandemic, Bloomberg News reported. The fund referred to as TRCF December 2024 lost 24.7% on top of a 5.3% decline in February, according to an investor letter seen by Bloomberg News. It mainly focuses on investment-grade companies which are less likely to default on their debts and includes bets using credit derivatives.

Almost one million people have claimed “universal credit” welfare payments in the U.K. in the past two weeks, exposing the massive economic hit from Boris Johnson’s coronavirus lockdown, Bloomberg News reported. Between March 16 and March 31, 950,000 people successfully applied for universal credit payments, up from about 100,000 in a normal two-week period, according to government figures.

Italian restaurant chain Carluccio’s and rent-to-own retailer BrightHouse have collapsed into administration, putting 4,500 jobs at risk after government-enforced closures exacerbated problems at both groups, the Financial Times reported. Carluccio’s was declared insolvent on Monday, three days after it had appointed restructuring firm FRP Advisory to consider its options, and administrators at Grant Thornton took control of BrightHouse.