London, UK (CWBN)_ A recent study concluded that 39,232 British retailers have been facing “significant financial distress” between early September and December, long before to the implementation of Tier IV restriction over the last weekend, owing to the new variant of the Covid-19 virus that was discovered earlier this month.
The study, carried out by Begbies Traynor, an insolvency specialist, noted that the number includes retailers who maintain physical, while about 11,500 are online stores. While this indicates an increase by 11 percent over the three months. It reflects 24 percent increase compared to the same period last year.
An associate of Traynor, Julie Palmer, claimed that “Without doubt this has been one of the toughest years ever experienced in the retail sector.”
Furthermore, 7,500 pubs, restaurants and other ventures in the hospitality sector, are among the businesses under threat, and represent a 35 percent hike from 2019, and about 20 percent from third quarter of 2020.
Palmer added that, “The hospitality sector has been brought to its knees by the Covid-19 restrictions, with many operators either having to shut or completely change their business models to suit differing tier-based restrictions.”
