It’s been a year since lockdown began - and it’s been the most bewildering year that most businesses have ever known.
March 23 marks a year since Prime Minister Boris Johnson put the country into lockdown by telling people they should stay at home. Businesses had already started closing and sending staff home, but Mr Johnson's declaration marked the start of a new phase of the pandemic.
A year on, the nations of the 海角视频 are still in lockdown - but with the success of the vaccine rollouts, there is now a roadmap to reopening.
Here at BusinessLive we have spent the year reporting the impact of the pandemic on Britain's business communities. Here are the stories of just some of the businesses in Britain that have survived a year of lockdown.
Some have pivoted and found new markets; others have been forced to hibernate as they wait for the world to reopen. Some have seen permanent change in their sectors. Others are hoping the world will get back to the way it was before.
Let us know or if you have a business story you want to share.
JCB has started creating new jobs again
In May, digger-maker JCB announced it was axing 950 jobs across its 海角视频 plants after the company’s orders disappeared overnight – and demand for its machines fell by half.
The company – which has factories in Staffordshire, Derbyshire and Wrexham – also released 500 Guidant agency employees from the business as part of efforts to scale back its workforce.
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The job losses were announced as a result of the severe disruption caused to JCB’s business by the covid-19 crisis.
Living and working in the 'new normal'
Since then, JCB has ramped up production after seeing demand for construction equipment soar following the pandemic.
This has led to the creation of 850 new jobs at the business since the start of the year.
Over the next 12 months, the company is predicting a solid recovery and is already seeing strong demand from mainland Europe and North America.
Bentley Motors - job losses despite record year
In June, luxury car-maker Bentley Motors announced it was cutting 25 per cent of its workforce to safeguard the future of the business.
The Crewe business initially announced it wanted to axe 1,000 staff – and hoped the majority of job losses would come via a voluntary release programme.
The job losses followed the introduction of 250 new hygiene and social distancing measures at its Pyms Lane factory including a re-design of the manufacturing facility, a one-way system and the reconfiguration of entry and exit points.
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In the end, the Bentley cut 800 staff – with only a handful of compulsory redundancies.
It went on to achieve a record year after selling a total of 11,206 vehicles in 2020, which was the highest sales performance in the company’s 101-year history.
B&M Bargains sees revenues rise despite pandemic
As an essential retailer, Merseyside-headquartered discount retailer B&M was allowed to remain open throughout the pandemic.
And as one of few brands physically open to customers, queues forming outside the discount chain’s shops was a familiar site to many during the three national lockdowns.
But it wasn’t all plain sailing for the firm - and in April, it took the decision to temporarily close 49 stores and furloughed hundreds of staff members at affected sites.
At the same time, B&M upped pay for its employees by 10% to recognise their hard work.
Stores slowly began to reopen and the firm began to see some sharp increases in revenue.
In November, it reported a 29.5% increase in revenues for the past six months, and subsequently returned £3.7m in furlough cash to HMRC.
Two months later, B&M announced it would reward staff with an extra week’s wages and shareholders to receive a special dividend of £200m after revenues soared again - by 26.6% for the 2020 “golden quarter”.
That payout included a £30m payout for chief executive Simon Arora.
Finally, this month, the firm reported “strong growth” and raised revenue forecasts for the financial year.
Moneypenny - outsourcing firm had to adapt
Like many businesses, Moneypenny in Wrexham had policies in place for all manner of likely crises, but did not see a global pandemic on the horizon in early 2020.
Moneypenny answers outsourced calls and live chat for thousands of businesses in multiple industry sectors, across the 海角视频 and the US, many of them who were badly affected by the introduction of lockdown and its restrictions on trade. Consequently the company experienced a drop in call volumes of 30% - 40% on equivalent 2019 monthly calls at the very start of the pandemic.
Soon after this however Moneypenny acquired many new customers as companies grappled to divert their phones and adjust to homeworking.
Moneypenny established a ‘Fast Recovery Plan’ to introduce new products and services that would help clients manage the rapidly changing business environment and keep them trading during the pandemic.
Live Chat had already been on the increase before the pandemic, but use of it surged during lockdown and it continues to rise and volumes have doubled since March 2020.
In addition to introducing new services during 2020, Moneypenny embarked on a bold new marketing campaign. It was very successful, with Moneypenny’s client call volumes in June/ July 2020 returning to 116% of their pre-lockdown levels.
While maintaining and driving new business, 2020 was also a huge year for Moneypenny in terms of its culture and a key priority was to do the best for the company’s 1,000 staff who had to get up and running with home working within three weeks at the very start of the pandemic in March 2020.
While this new way of working suited some, others struggled to combine it with childcare, so the company kept in close contact with everyone through Workplace by Facebook, Teams and one to one calls, to monitor wellbeing.
As many companies plan to adapt to the new post Covid way of working, Moneypenny is helping its clients plan their front of house and outsourced communication channels as well as consulting regularly with its own staff to plan a way forward that works for them and which will embrace the new hybrid mix of home and office working. The business is thriving, and Moneypenny has recruited 350 new employees since March 2020 as it continues to grow.
Aktar at Home - restaurant launches home dining kit
The restaurant industry has had a rocky old time of it over the past 12 months but many have launched so-called ‘at home’ services as a way of bringing in at least some revenue.
This has worked particularly well for high-end venues as it has given customers the chance to receive all the ingredients from their favourite venues and prepare “posh” meals at home.
In Birmingham, Michelin-starred Simpsons, and fine dining restaurant Opus have all been among those hoping to offer something different to the avalanche of takeaway apps now available.
One of those to take the service to the next level is Aktar Islam, owner of Michelin-starred Opheem and Argentine steakhouse Pulperia which opened just three weeks before lockdown started last March.
‘Aktar at Home’ offers traditional Indian curries or British Sunday roast.
It is currently run from his restaurants but Mr Islam has now agreed a deal on a 7,300 sq ft unit in the city’s Digbeth district from where he can run the service full-time.
The move suggests Aktar at Home could last well beyond the proposed end of lockdown restrictions in June and up to 20 jobs are being created at the operation.
Nissan has been hit by pandemic turmoil
Nissan and the rest of the automotive industry came into the coronavirus crisis at a time of turmoil for the industry that was made worse by the pandemic.
With falling sales in China, Brexit uncertainty and the impact of the diesel emissions scandal, car manufacturers were already suffering.
The first national lockdown led to a complete suspension of activity at the company’s massive Sunderland plant as sales fell off a cliff and the company adapted the factory for social distancing. Some staff returned to work on a PPE project.
Production later re-opened with measures in place to protect staff, though the plant saw a number of small Covid outbreaks.
A Brexit deal at the end of the year gave the company and worked has started on a new model of its Qasghqai vehicle, but the company has had to suspend production twice as it tries to deal with a shortage of parts made worse by the pandemic.
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Greggs reported first loss in 30 years as pandemic hit
The food chain and modern high street icon went into the lockdown on a roll, having posted record results and opened its 2,000th store.
A year later, the Newcastle company reported its first ever loss in more than 30 years as a listed company. Many of its shops had to shut during local and national lockdowns and it had to make 820 people redundant as sales plummeted.
But Greggs was fortunate in being able to open when other retailers and hospitality businesses could not. Though it had to introduce safety screens for staff and social distancing measures in its shops, it has been open for takeaway and click-and-collect, while its delivery partnership with Just Eat - signed just before the pandemic - has paid dividends.
Greggs is now hoping to take advantage of some aspects of the pandemic by snapping up locations it couldn’t previously afford as rents lower in areas such as central London and major transport hubs.
Hotels and hospitality feel the pain of lockdown
Seamus O’Keeffe, owner of The Chainbridge Hotel, in Llangollen, tells us about his lockdown experiences
"The last 12 months has posed significant challenges for all of us; families separated, children home-schooled, employees working from home and businesses boarded up. Some sectors have been particularly hard hit by the pandemic and the restrictions placed on our lives and livelihoods by governments trying to minimise the impact of this health emergency.
"In Hospitality – arguably the sector most severely impacted - the greatest challenge throughout the last year has been trying to pre-empt what will happen next. When will restrictions be imposed, how will we survive them, how will they effect customer demand, how long will they last, what will we open up to? Businesses need certainty, to plan, to operate, and to grow. These calculations have driven our decision-making, as we have fought to retain staff, maintain our buildings, communicate with customers and plan our future.
"Without government support, most notably the furlough scheme and sector specific grants for those forced to close, undoubtedly very few businesses would have been able to survive. That said, many haven’t, and even when things reopen there are concerns that restrictions on capacity will continue to negatively affect profitability, meaning more, once buoyant, businesses in our sector may fail.
"The pandemic, and companies responses to it, has highlighted that not all businesses are the same. ‘Hospitality’ is a broad brush, so while some businesses could adapt their product, or target a new market, for others the only option has been to hibernate. The one common denominator, I have found, is that we have all missed our colleagues, all missed our guests and all missed life as it was before Covid-19. As we all start to re-emerge, my hope is that as both businesses and customers we will remember that, and make a collective and concerted effort to thrive, not just survive."