Gamesys was praised for acknowledging that children and vulnerable customers who are bored are being placed at risk by the lockdown. Betting companies have been urged to protect players.

Taylor Wimpey was the top riser on the FTSE 100 after it said it was still selling homes virtually, adding its order book was at £2.7bn at the end of last week, up from £2.4bn the same time last year.

While 38,186 firms have applied for a Government-backed loan through the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loans Scheme, just 16,624 have been approved by High Street banks.

India's TVS Motor, which bought the British brand out of administration for £16m earlier this month, is reportedly set to invest tens of millions of pounds in the luxury motorbike maker.

Standard Life Aberdeen Chief exec Keith Skeoch has come to the view that attending next January would be insensitive to the grim realities of life in the pandemic for millions of ordinary people.

Blackmore Bond had failed to hand out interest payments to its investors since October last year. Assurances that it would resume the payments in 2020 fell by the wayside.

From the market low on 18 March to the start of the Easter weekend on 9 April, junior market-listed firms announced over £500million of funding.

The education group will hand back £102m to shareholders - or 13.5p per share - after boss John Fallon insisted the company was in a 'strong financial position'.

The company said it will resume building from April 27. Workers will follow strict social distancing rules - except for work deemed 'essential' that requires them to stand closer together.

The British fashion stalwart said a third of its workers would remain at home on full pay, without a penny being billed to the taxpayer, while bosses have taken a 20 per cent pay cut.

The closely-watched Markit/CIPS Flash UK Composite Purchasing Managers' Index fell to a new record low of 12.9 - down precipitously from an already low reading 36 in March.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies said households are saddled with £8,000 of non-mortgage debts, totalling £230 billion across the UK. And the coronavirus pandemic means incomes are falling.

McLaren, based at a plush factory in Surrey designed by renowned British architect Norman Foster, is also talking to third parties about further boosting its working capital.

Steve Eisman told investors last week that the Neuberger Berman Absolute Alpha Fund had dropped nearly 5 per cent in March as the Covid-19 crisis took hold.

EasyJet is heading for its biggest showdown yet with Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou amid growing speculation in the City that the airline may ask investors to stump up rescue cash.

Less money has been lent under the Business Interruption Loan Scheme than in Switzerland and Germany because the application process is too complex, the TaxPayers' Alliance said.

Analysts are predicting it will unveil first-quarter sales of around £59 billion. But the retail giant has been accused of abandoning fraud victims by closing a crucial helpline.

Though it is one of the largest lenders to small and medium-sized firms, it has only approved a tiny percentage of loans made under the Government's Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme.

The Investment Association said firms will need 'to take account of their individual circumstances particularly considering the impact on their stakeholders' when deciding executive pay.

Novacyt has inked a deal with the Department of Health to provide it with 288,000 tests a week. And Omega Diagnostics has made fresh strides in the race to roll out antibody tests.

Treasury officials and the City watchdog expressed concern after it emerged a company is charging £500 upfront, then a percentage of the value of the loan if the application is successful.

Grocers have hired an army of 110,000 temporary staff to meet rising demand. Tesco is now delivering to more than a million people every week, an increase of 400,000 weekly delivery slots.

Many had been worried BP would have to cut or axe the payout after oil prices began tanking in late January. But the energy giant has raised the amount it will give to shareholders.

Bosses at the company's owner, Barings Asia, are withholding the severance payment. Instead staff have been been told to apply for government handouts.

The group, which has scrapped its dividend for shareholders and furloughed 16,500 staff, saw its share price jump over 19 per cent earlier today.

While the group got off to a strong start this year, social distancing, Government lockdown interventions and economic uncertainty have started to take their toll.

Glaxosmithkline, led by Emma Walmsley (pictured) and Astrazeneca both revealed a surge in first-quarter sales. Walmsley warned vaccines are not likely to become available for more than a year.

The FTSE 100 index rose 156.75 points to 6115.25, closing above the 6000 mark for the first time since early March, despite data showing the US economy shrank 4.8 per cent in the first quarter.

Amazon is expected to report profits of more than £7500 a second, meaning founder Jeff Bezos (pictured with girlfriend Lauren Sanchez) has added billions of dollars to his personal fortune.

Last year Shell was the most generous dividend payer in the UK, handing pension funds and investors £11.6bn.That amounted to 15.5 per cent of all payments made by FTSE 100 firms.

Just days after British Airways warned of 12,000 job cuts, business only expect to recover slowly as workers and consumers stay home and social distancing measures are put in place.

Laxman Narasimhan, chief executive of Reckitt Benckiser, said sales of condoms had been hit in the UK and Italy - but not in China, where restrictions are being lifted.

Tesla's factory in Fremont, California, has been closed since March 24 as part of a government clampdown, requiring people to stay indoors to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

The billionaire, 48, made the comment yesterday in a string of tweets that also saw him reveal he was selling all of his possessions and demand that authorities give people back 'their freedom'.

The fast food business's 1,350 restaurants have been closed since the Government brought in lockdown measures in March due to concerns over staff and customer safety.

The Cambridge-based software firm will create a 'strategy' title based on the hugely successful fantasy series that will be released on computer and game consoles such as Xbox and Playstation.

Deloitte's survey of 104 finance chiefs found that 84 per cent were less optimistic about prospects, compared with 47 per cent three months ago - the survey's biggest drop in confidence on record.

Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou urged them to back his bid to oust four directors at a meeting on May 22 as he thinks the order is a waste of money with the balance sheet already under threat from coronavirus.

More than 300 listed companies have cut or cancelled payouts as they battle to survive. It is now feared that total dividend payments will fall from £98.5 billion last year to just £47.2 billion this year.

According to the FTSE All-World Index, which measures the performance of thousands of companies around the world, global stocks grew at their highest monthly level in nine years.

The firm said that closing its stores in March has had a 'material impact' on trading and the company has initiated a 'broad range of actions to manage its costs and cash flow'.

The IHS Markit Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index gave a reading of 33.4 in April - significantly below the 50 mark which indicates activity was flat.

The engineer needs to shore up its finances after global air travel was brought virtually to a standstill by the coronavirus pandemic.

William Hill is benefiting to the tune of over £30m per month from the wage subsidy scheme and the business rates holiday, while Paddy Power is saving £400,000 per month in business rates.

Virgin blamed the 'severe impact' of coronavirus, which has prompted travel restrictions and forced airlines to ground fleets, and it comes just days after BA said it could also leave.

The insurance giant said it would sell up to 58m shares, which at last night's price of 692.4p would be worth £400m, collecting the money so it could 'respond to future growth opportunities'.

The Financial Services Compensation Scheme is looking at claims from 12,000 savers who bought so-called mini bonds from LCF and were left high and dry when the company collapsed.

The British telecoms giant has long been seen as a potential suitor for broadband provider Virgin after it previously held unsuccessful takeover talks with parent Liberty Global.

Serial investor Vin Murria, an adviser at Hgcapital, bought 13.25 per cent of the AIM-listed company's shares on April 30, according to a stock market announcement yesterday.

The group admitted that around 12,000 of its credit card customers, or 1.2 per cent, were already seriously in arrears by three months or more before the pandemic.