Diageo has warned over an earnings hit of up to £200 million this year from coronavirus as the outbreak impacts sales throughout Asia.

The Gordon's gin and Captain Morgan rum maker said demand has been knocked across greater China, where the outbreak started, as bars and restaurants have been closed, with sales across the rest of Asia Pacific also lower amid a fall in conferences and banquets.

Sales are also being weighed on as the spread of the Covid-19 virus has led to reduced international passenger traffic.

READ MORE: Plans lodged for UK's first national 'robotarium' in Edinburgh

Diageo is bracing for 2020 net sales to be knocked by between £225 million and £325 million due to coronavirus, which is set to impact operating profit by £140 million to £200 million this year.

It said it has seen "significant" disruption since the end of January, which it expects to last at least into March.

The group is expecting a gradual improvement in sales, returning to normal levels towards the end of its financial year in June.

Diageo said: "Public health measures across impacted countries in Asia Pacific, principally in China, have resulted in restrictions on public gatherings, the postponement of events and the closure of many hospitality and retail outlets.

"Several countries and many businesses have also imposed restrictions on travel."

It added the outbreak is "dynamic and continues to evolve".
"It is difficult to predict the duration and extent of any further spread of the Covid-19 outbreak both in and outside of Asia," Diageo said.

The coronavirus woes come as a further blow to Diageo, which warned over full-year sales last month due to a backdrop of global uncertainty.

It cautioned that full-year sales are expected to be on the lower end of forecasts of between 4% and 6% growth after being affected by volatility in world markets.

Metro Bank has outlined plans to cut costs and scale back branch openings as it slumped to an annual loss of £130.8 million against profits of £40.6 million in 2018.

The troubled high street lender said it would reduce costs through relocating back office sites to cheaper locations, improving its contact centre technology, automating more services and cutting organisational layers across the bank.

READ MORE: Ian McConnell: Tory ‘cheap labour’ slogan is a dangerous Brexit fantasy

It said there would be no redundancy costs from the cuts and added it would offer affected staff the opportunity to relocate to new back office sites.

Metro Bank also revealed it would slash new branch openings to 24 over the next three years from an original target of 71.

Metro Bank revealed it was paying back £50 million of the original £120 million of cash secured from the Royal Bank of Scotland-funded scheme designed to boost competition in the banking sector as it pulls back on its small business lending commitments.

It said it would now target opening 15 rather than 30 stores across the North of England by 2025 and "step away" from niche small business offerings.

Chief executive Dan Frumkin, who was permanently appointed to the role last week, stressed the group remains "absolutely committed to bringing market-leading service to SMEs and injecting more competition into the market".

On the group's 2019 results, he added: "Our financial performance reflects a very challenging year for Metro Bank.
"External headwinds, internal challenges and actions we took to put the business on a more positive trajectory are reflected in the results."

A spokesman for Virgin Money - which also won cash from the RBS business banking fund - said: "This is disappointing news for competition in the business banking market, an issue the alternative remedies and BCR (Banking Competition Remedies) was supposed to address.

"We hope that the BCR and RBS work together quickly to find new ways of meeting the original objectives of the scheme, to give small businesses better choice and quality of banking."

Betting giant William Hill has posted 2019 profits ahead of expectations, despite closing more than 700 betting shops.

The company reported a 52% decline in adjusted pre-tax profits to £96.5 million for the year to December 31.

READ MORE: Scottish students design building blocks of Moon base

It said the decline was driven by the Government's crackdown on fixed odds betting terminals (FOBTs), with the maximum stake decreased from £100 to £2.

William Hill said it shut 713 retail stores in the UK during 2019 on the back of the stake increase, but profits were not as heavily impacted as previously forecast.

Its total revenues across the group dipped 2% to £1.58 billion as it was buoyed by growing markets, such as the US.

US revenue increased by 38% during the year after it launched a new digital platform in the region.

Growth in the region helped to offset UK decline, where net revenue fell 13% on a like-for-like basis, although this was at the higher end of the firm's expectations.

William Hill said the closure of shops following the FOBT changes resulted in a £67 million hit to profits during the year.