Fears rise for firms’ future as virus spreads over UK

Traders across the county are in fear over the future of their business – as the coronavirus spread worsens.

Richard Sheehan, chief executive of Shropshire Chamber of Commerce, said many businesses have taken it upon themselves to deal with the impacts of the spread of the virus such as cancelling key events and minimising travel.

"Businesses are obviously concerned about the impacts on profits and sustainability, but they also realise this is about people and they have a duty of care to protect their employees," he said.

"Businesses are still battling with the unknown and there is a general perception about the lack of leadership from the top, so many businesses have shown leadership themselves in terms of cancelling meetings, events, travel, and giving employees clear and precise instructions of what not to do.

"We will continue to watch and monitor advice and as a chamber we have already taken things into our own hands by postponing our patrons dinner, training courses and business awards to reduce physical contact.

"With the current uncertainty and there being no short term fix to this, I feel there are challenging times ahead for businesses and we could be looking at a good couple of years for them to get back to where they were before the outbreak of the virus."

It comes as manufacturers are calling on the Government to take whatever steps are necessary to mitigate the impact of coronavirus on supply chains after new research showed that exports have slumped to their lowest level in three years.

A survey by Make UK and business advisory firm BDO LLP, taken before the recent escalation of the economic situation, suggested that the sector had ground to a standstill at the end of 2019 as the stockpiles from a potential October EU exit wound down.

While the domestic picture had begun to improve slightly, exports had already fallen sharply in response to a downturn in world trade, a situation likely to be exacerbated by current events, the report warned.

A separate snap poll of companies by Make UK indicated that more than a third of companies believed EU customer sentiment has worsened since Brexit.

The results showed that European customers are now looking away from the UK, further threatening exports to the UK's major market, said Make UK.

Chief economist Seamus Nevin said: "After the rollercoaster ride of the last 12 months and a series of stockpiling highs and investment lows, the election result had at least provided some degree of political certainty and a prospect of a return to cyclical economic normality, but the escalation of coronavirus is likely to knock that off course.

"It is now vital that Government works with industry to limit the damage to industry and take whatever steps are necessary to safeguard skills in particular."