The retail industry was already facing challenges before the pandemic turned the world upside down and accelerated inevitable changes for the retail industry– especially for bricks and mortar businesses. It, therefore, doesn’t come as a surprise that ASOS only purchased the Topshop brand and Boohoo plc only bought the Debenhams brand. In both acquisitions, the real estate was not part of the deal and consequently the employees at those locations were left behind.

EU registrations

Alongside recent positive announcements around the easing of lockdown measures in Scotland, some more good news was received gladly received by the Tech startup and high-growth community in Edinburgh in the shape of the annual Tech Nation report

In his recent Budget, Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced that the Government will be launching a successor to the successful Future Fund scheme and will be replacing the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS), the Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CLBILS) and the Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS) – which are all due to end on 31 March 2021 – with a new Recovery Loan Scheme. Both schemes will cultivate innovation, investment and growth throughout the UK economy.

The proposed National Security and Investment Bill was given its first reading in Parliament on November 20^th, this new bill is designed to protect national security and protect the UK’s infrastructure. In short, if passed, the Bill will allow the Government “powers to investigate and intervene in potentially hostile foreign direct investment.”