Cash crisis would result in many London businesses not surviving a ‘flu pandemic According to a London Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) survey more than 20 percent of London’s businesses don’t have sufficient working capital in place to survive a 'flu pandemic lasting 12 weeks - the length of time which a pandemic outbreak is expected to last for in any one region. The results come from the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry's London Business Panel survey, consisting of 287 directors whose companies do business in or around the capital. In other findings, 30 percent of firms said that they had updated their business continuity plan specifically to deal with a pandemic 'flu outbreak. Some 22 percent had not, 18.6 percent did not know and a further 29 percent did not have a business continuity plan. 22 percent of businesses said that they would no longer be able to operate their business model if between 10 and 30 percent of staff became unavailable for work. 40 percent said that they would not be able to function if between 30 and 50 percent of their staff became unavailable for work. And 39 percent said it would be necessary for more than half of their staff to be unavailable before their business became unviable. LCCI president Michael Cassidy said: "This is not scaremongering by the LCCI. Thinking ahead is the best way of tackling this type of threat. Running out of cash through lack of fore-thought is the swiftest way to insolvency, particularly with smaller businesses. This is a worrying outcome of our survey which should be treated as a wake-up call for business leaders." "Britain has a high vulnerability to the spread of avian flu once it has mutated to the human form, because of our dense population and international links. So readiness to deal with its consequences should have high priority in business planning. This survey shows that much still needs to be done to avoid the most obvious threats of such an eventuality."
•Date: 14th March 2006• Region: UK • Type: Article •Topic: BC statistics |
