Young & Co's scraps dividend, furloughs majority of employees
By Michele Maatouk
Date: Friday 27 Mar 2020
(Sharecast News) - Young & Co's Brewery said on Friday that it has scrapped its final dividend and furloughed most of its staff, having shut its pubs due to the coronavirus outbreak.
The company said it was accessing the government's Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, through which HMRC will reimburse 80% of wages up to ?2,500 per month of those who would otherwise be laid off. Those 'furloughed workers' will be kept on the payroll but will stop working.
The vast majority of Young's employees - including more than 4,500 weekly and monthly paid staff in the pubs - have been designated as 'furloughed workers'.
Young's said it will not be pay a final dividend and that its board has agreed to take a 20% pay cut.
It insisted that the balance sheet remains "very strong", supported by a mostly freehold estate. In addition, the company is in ongoing discussions with its banks and is seeking to ensure additional covenant headroom.
"The board is also in the process of understanding whether it can access the Bank of England's Covid-19 Corporate Financing Facility," it said.
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10 Lower Thames St,
London EC3R 6EN