More than eight in ten income investors (83%) are concerned about a potential loss of income from dividend cuts caused by COVID-19, according to new research from the Association of Investment Companies (AIC) conducted by Research in Finance.

Resilience and Recovery, a new report from the Female Founders Forum – a project by think tank The Entrepreneurs Network, in partnership with Barclays – has revealed that female-founded, equity-backed businesses have been worse affected by the COVID-19 pandemic than their male counterparts. 

eFront, the leading financial software and solutions provider dedicated to Alternative Investments, has published its latest Quarterly Private Equity Performance report, 

A new study published by Foresight Group into the resilience of infrastructure to global pandemics reveals that renewable energy, telecoms and primary care have proved to be the most pandemic resilient.

The analysis, which examines 23 infrastructure sub-sectors spanning economic and social infrastructure, shows that while infrastructure as an asset-class has proved to be highly pandemic resilient, with many sub-sectors largely immune to the impact, there are substantial differences in the performance of various infrastructure sub-sectors.

The UK’s £4bn gaming sector is predicted to almost triple in value within the next 3 years to £10bn, with the current 27,000 employed by the sector expected to also triple within 5 years. The findings come from a new report set to be released next month by global recruitment agency Robert Walters.

A new study by Merchant Machine finds the top countries, states and industries for the fastest-growing companies in Europe and the US.  The study found that technology ranks as the overall top industry, accounting for 21.3% of the 1,360 companies.

According to new research by PwC, VC and corporate investment in startups developing technology enabled solutions to climate change, and the transformation to net zero emissions, grew at a faster rate than VC investment as a whole between 2013 - 2019. In that time, US$60 billion of early stage capital was invested globally into startups contributing to tackling the net zero challenge. 

Investment banking fees generated in the UK total £3.3 billion so far during 2020, 5% less than the value recorded at this time last year and the lowest year-to-date total since 2016 according to research by Refinitiv.

The business failures in key sectors since the UK locked down in March has created a domino effect of debt amounting to nearly £800m of invoices outstanding within their supply chain at the point of administration, according to corporate distress data analysts Red Flag Alert. 

With an average individual debt of £28,501, the research found there are a further 227 businesses across the bars and restaurants, construction, retail, logistics and real estate sectors, which are at very high risk of failure.  

Bounce Back loans, the most popular HM Treasury support measure, used by SMEs are running low, finds the latest insights [1] from fintech business lender MarketFinance. These SMEs are aware they can get more HM Treasury support by applying for larger loans through the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) but did not know the deadline was end of this month. 

Global venture capital firm 500 Startups released new survey findings that reveal how startup investors are responding to the new challenges brought on by COVID-19 and their plans for 2021. The survey of 160 investors found that many respondents reported that investment activities have remained the same as planned before COVID-19, or even increased. Many respondents also believe that valuations have been as expected or higher than anticipated.

Small- and mid-cap stocks (SMIDs) are currently more vulnerable to the COVID shock than markets have already priced in. A capital chasm is set to emerge as the unprecedented conditions have left many businesses in need of re-capitalisation that institutions and other pools of capital have insufficient resources to deliver. This means the Bank of England, other central banks and governments should focus significantly more of their ‘firepower’ on the sector to head-off economic calamity.