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G&A Insight May 2020
Welcome to your latest edition of INSIGHT. Following the UK government announcement, which has set out its conditional plan for some organisations and businesses to begin a phased return to work from the current COVID-19 lockdown, this edition of INSIGHT provides you with information that I hope helps you and your workforce prepare for a careful and considered return to your usual place of work at the appropriate time. As always, I welcome your questions or feedback on any of the articles or indeed if I can help with any general or COVID-19 related insurance or risk management matters at CI Hub Limited. Please get in touch with me by reply e-mail if I can be of any assistance.
Webinar: Managing investments in unprecedented times
As charities continue to struggle with the widespread financial implications of the Covid-19 crisis, Senior Investment Director Michael Turner addresses the current challenges of navigating Charities and their investment portfolios through the pandemic. In the webinar, Michael is joined by James Brooke Turner from the Nuffield Foundation and Tristan Blythe, editor at Charity Finance Magazine. If you would like to listen to this webinar, you can click here to view on our website
Ruffer Radio
This week we have launched Ruffer Radio, a series of podcasts in which we’ll be exploring the investment universe and sharing our interpretation of what’s going on. In Episode 1, Investment Director Duncan MacInnes discusses COVID-19: how it has changed the investment landscape, the impact on the Ruffer portfolio and what could happen next.
A pause that upends: How the coronavirus disrupts the present and alters the future
t has been just a few months since the coronavirus emerged in a wet animal market in Wuhan, China. Since then, it has been detected in almost every country in the world. With the virus overwhelming health systems, policy makers have chosen to pause activity and bring economies to a virtual standstill. We have encountered shocks and pandemics before – but never one that has elicited such a draconian response.
UK Real Estate Impact of Covid-19 - April 2020
Coronavirus: Short-term impacts will vary by sector
Coronavirus and Dispute Resolution: what do you need to know?
In this week's roundup, we examine what the evolving coronavirus pandemic could mean for commercial agreements with a particular focus on contractual obligations, force majeure and frustration.
Withers Charity Update April 2020
As the situation caused by coronavirus pandemic continues to evolve, we are aiming to keep you updated with developments in the charity sector, and those that will likely impact charities. In case you missed it, our previous update can be found here.
What Coronavirus means to Charities
There’s no denying that the coronavirus pandemic will have thrown many charity’s operational and financial plans into disarray, and possibly on a number of fronts simultaneously
Surviving coronavirus: FAQs for UK employers
COVID-19 or ‘coronavirus’ has thrown up a myriad of questions for employers. Here we want to share with you some that we have been asked and how we have answered them so far. The guidance from government is still sketchy so we have had to fill in some of the detail working from experience and first principles. We updated this article, in accordance with new government information, on Monday 6 April, 2020.
COVID19 Funders List
Charity Excellence Framework has been collated a funders list and toolkit which can be downloaded from their website.
Coronavirus: what you need to know
Quilter Cheviot has created a page of useful resources, including investment webinars, weekly podcasts and articles for charities. Read more
The Chancellor has announced a support package worth £750 million for frontline charities across the UK.
The package consists of £360 million direct from the government, with a further £370 million available for small and medium-sized charities, including through the National Lottery Community Fund in England. These measures are designed to provide direct cash grants to charities such as hospices, those supporting domestic abuse victims, as well as smaller community charities providing vital services such as food and medicine deliveries during the outbreak. We share a full update with you on this financial aid relief in our latest COVID-19 article.
Fundraising regulator
Due to the outbreak of COVID-19, we understand that charities and fundraising organisations will be working in a challenging and changing environment. We know that many organisations will be making complex decisions, not only about their fundraising activity but what that means for future income generation and the important work they do.
Cazenove
Coronavirus and markets – our latest views. Investors continue to seek to understand the likely long-term consequences of the coronavirus pandemic, resulting in uncertainty and volatility across all asset classes. Below, we set out our thinking on recent developments and our investment approach.
Waverton
Investing through the pandemic. Some things will stay the same, but a lot will change.
Charles Russell Speechley
The world as we know it is rapidly changing in response to the outbreak of the Coronavirus. There is enormous impact on us personally, but also on the way we do business and there will be long term effects of the measures that are being put in place now to contain the virus. We are providing insight and knowledge on the changing landscape and how that might affect personal and business affairs across multiple sectors.
Stone King
With Coronavirus classified as a pandemic by the World Health Organisation, what are the key legal implications for our clients? Our teams across the Education, Charity & Social Enterprise, Business sectors as well as Personal Law have compiled answers to the main questions our clients have been asking us in relation to Coronavirus, and all our teams are on hand to help.
Bates Wells
How will coronavirus (Covid-19) affect your organisations, operations and employees? Read our latest thinking.
Sayer Vincent
We are providing regular updates, advice and signposting you to important information that could affect your organisation during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Haysmacintyre
Haysmacintyre have created a dedicated web page to collate, analyse and provide insights on the various financial, tax and accounting measures and initiatives being announced – mainly from Governmental departments, but also from other relevant bodies and organisations.
Responding to the impact of COVID-19
The impact of COVID-19 is far reaching, we'll be providing you, your charity and your business with regular updates to help you manage during these uncertain times.
Is your Unoccupied Building covered during the COVID-19 outbreak?
As government advice moved from a strategy of ‘contain’ to ‘delay’, many businesses and organisations that once operated predominantly from offices, retail units, factories and warehouses are demonstrating incredible flexibility and innovative use of technology to enable their workforce to comply with government social distance recommendations and operate remotely.
BlackRock Charities & Endowments – COVID-19 Webcast
Hear from a panel of investors in conversation with Robert Hayes, Investment Director for BlackRock’s Charities & Endowments business. The panellists share their views on how their strategies have navigated these volatile markets, the impact to income across the multi asset and equity strategies, what opportunities they are seeing and how they think ESG will be perceived as we come out of this crisis.
Gift Aid - How to help charities in Covid crisis
Many charities are struggling in the wake of Covid-19. As we have observed before, the current tax regime allows high earners to give and receive at the same time.
The dividend income challenge for charities
The coronavirus has effectively halted swathes of the global economy. Charities have seen their income slashed – it is estimated that the sector will miss out on at least £4.3 billion in Q2 this year. And those who rely on the dividends generated by their investment portfolios are suffering further.
Mental Health Engagement
Mental health during Covid-19 CCLA initiated its mental health engagement programme in early 2019. Since then, the Covid-19 crisis has swept across the globe, lending a greater level of urgency to the campaign. A combination of obligatory remote working, social isolation, quarantine, bereavement and pending recession will have unprecedented mental health consequences for a great number of people. This is a unique time for workplace mental health, with no historical parallel from which to learn. For this reason, CCLA is inviting other investors to join us in encouraging businesses to protect their employees’ mental health during this challenging time.
Brewin Dolphin’s response to the coronavirus
Groupwide strategy and resilient business model The Coronavirus pandemic has resulted in a number of unprecedented issues. However, while many firms will have business continuity plans which will include offsite location arrangements, because of our flexible and resilient business model, we have been able to adapt quickly in order to maintain business as usual. At the early stage of the pandemic we very quickly set up a crisis management governance and operations structure with key teams and functions represented, overseen by our Executive Committee. Crisis groups meet daily and have responded swiftly and we have a near total working from home regime, with all key operations, from client investment management to dealing, from client communications to teams still working together, all working well. As a modern business, that cares deeply about both its clients and its staff (as well as the wider community), we have adapted well and our operations continue as usual. We have also been able to adapt our processes and procedures where necessary, to ensure we are able to continue all client engagement and activities, without requiring staff to be in our offices. Our investment in technology has enabled the business to adapt quickly to the current circumstances. We continue to service our clients on an individual basis and they are able to communicate directly with their fund manager. Active management in the current climate Never has the need to monitor and adjust to market conditions been so important. Our Charity Team specialist investment managers have been drawing on our central Research monitoring and recommendations and making adjustments to client portfolios. Nimble, thoughtful active management requires a sound understanding not only of markets but also of the needs of each client. Many charities, right across the sector, are suffering significant falls in income from a range of usual sources. Investment income has also been hit, as a number of companies have cut their dividends or deferred them. Nonetheless, some streams of charity income have dried up completely, a carefully managed charity portfolio will still produce income, with some curb on the level that might be expected this year and next. Our investment managers have been working with each charity client to determine their reliance on income (versus growth in capital), in line with their investment objectives. Some adjustment have been made, were appropriate. For, example, in some sectors where we see reduced dividend expectations, sometimes coupled with the prospects for growth in share values being affected by the current crisis, we have reduced those holdings in favour of taking opportunities in sectors and companies with stronger prospects. Some charities are also reviewing the income focus in their investment objective. This strategy might be adjusted to taking a ‘total return’ approach, whereby an overall view of the returns from income and growth are considered jointly when deciding upon a withdrawal rate from their portfolio. This is a delicate matter and our role is to discuss needs and potential strategies with each of our clients as they work through the role of the invested assets in their wider budget scenario. We continue to provide a complete service to each of our charity clients. They are able to contact their dedicated charity investment manager to ask questions or express concerns regarding the current situation and its impact on the portfolio.
The coronavirus crisis has affected all charities
As part of our programme of support for charities, and in response to the pandemic, we have co-created a series of webinars. The webinars are designed to help trustees through this period of uncertainty by covering a range of topics from fundraising to reviewing your charity's strategy. In our first webinar recording: Through a crisis - strategy, we will be asking whether your strategy is still right for a post pandemic world and has your charity got the right structure to prosper in the future.
How can trustees and management manage the impact of COVID-19 on reporting?
BDO latest article 'how can trustees and management manage the impact of COVID-19 on reporting?'
BDO Helping Charities Manager the Impact of COVID-19
This brochure outlines some COVID-19 considerations to help manager the impact.
July Market Reflection
The equity market recovery stalled in July in the face of deteriorating news on the number of new Covid-19 cases, notably in the sunbelt states of the United States. This was exacerbated by renewed, but localised, outbreaks in parts of Europe. Thus, although the initial rebound in economic activity from April’s trough has been very sharp, even “V”-shaped, concerns of a more protracted full recovery are in the ascendant once again. A key factor will be employment levels. Although furlough measures have contained the rise in official unemployment rates in much of Europe, several high-profile companies have announced permanent job cuts, and more are expected to follow. Countering the threat are fiscal stimulus packages and continued central bank support. On this front, the European Union’s creeping progress towards the implementation of a €750bn stimulus package is a positive development, while the US Congress continues to argue about the scope and scale of its own latest stimulus. Even so, both are expected to proceed given the current imperative to support economic growth. In this commentary John Wyn-Evans, Investec Wealth & Investment’s Head of Investment Strategy, reflects on July’s market performance with his latest monthly observations.