Profit at Barclays fell by more than 42% in the first three months of the year, as the bank took a major hit from the coronavirus crisis, it revealed on Wednesday.

Pre-tax profit dropped from around £1.5 billion to £913 million, it said.

It came as the company took a massive £2.1 billion impairment charge, most of it related to the impact of Covid-19.

The pre-tax profit was significantly below forecasts of £1.48 billion.

Barclays boss Jes Staley said the bank had "a good quarter" until Covid-19 hit its business.

"We have taken a £2.1 billion credit impairment charge, which reflects our initial estimates of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic," he said.

READ MORE: Coronavirus in Scotland: Pop-up paths and cycle lanes to boost social distancing

Without this charge, pre-tax profit would have reached £3 billion, he added.

It was at home where Barclays was the worst hit.

Pre-tax profit dropped 66% to £220 million in the UK, compared with a 28% drop to £822 million internationally.

Governments around the world have been scrambling to shore up businesses, with many leaning on the banks to step in to give emergency loans.

In the UK, small businesses can apply to the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) through their usual lenders.

Mr Staley said: "We welcome the Government and Bank of England's business support programmes and have introduced additional measures to back UK companies ourselves."

He added that Barclays has lent £737 million as part of the CBILS. It has also approved more than 238,000 mortgage and loan payment holidays, and six million customers are not paying charges on personal or business overdrafts.

"We expect that all of these measures will help to limit the economic and social impact of the pandemic," the chief executive said.

Retail giant Next has said the impact of the coronavirus lockdown on trading has been "faster and steeper" than expected and warned that sales will remain under pressure throughout 2020.

The chain - which reopened for online trading on April 14 - reported a 41% plunge in full-price sales over its first quarter to April 25, with high street sales down 52% and online sales off 32%.

READ MORE: Ian McConnell: Conservatives’ attitude to the EU is ever more aggravating

It said it now believes full-year sales could fall by as much as 40%, with the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic expected to leave sales lower in every quarter, even after lockdown restrictions are lifted.

Sales are expected to tumble by as much as 62% over its second quarter and could still be 28% lower over the fourth quarter to next January in the worst-case scenario.

Next said it has plans in place to reopen stores when lockdown is lifted, but would be prioritising out-of-town outlets initially, where it is easier to operate in a "socially distanced world".

It does not believe there will be a sudden rush of shoppers hitting stores, warning that it will "take some time for customers to return to their normal shopping habits" and that sales will remain "very subdued" once restrictions are lifted.

The group said: "The fall-off in sales to date has been faster and steeper than anticipated in our March stress test and we are now modelling lower sales for both the first and second half of the year."

It added: "We believe that the effects of the coronavirus will be felt for longer than we first anticipated.

"The economic consequences and continued social distancing will mean that both retail sales and online sales will be disrupted even after full lockdown measures have been lifted."

Next closed its online operations in late March amid the coronavirus crisis, following criticism from staff who felt unsafe at work.

It reopened for internet shopping in mid-April, but the website closed by 9am on the first day, saying it had already received all the orders it could process for the day and would return the following day.

Next began by selling only childrenswear and some home items initially, but said in its latest update that it now has 70% of its range on offer.

Nearly a quarter - 24% - of its 8,794 warehouse staff are unable to work due to childcare or because they are vulnerable or living with vulnerable people, but it hopes to get back to around 70% of its normal workforce capacity within the next two weeks.

It initially furloughed 88% of its staff through the government scheme, though this figure has now reduced to 84% after opening the internet operation.

Airbus is being hit by "the gravest crisis the aerospace industry has ever known", chief executive Guillaume Faury has warned.

He made the comment as the European plane-maker revealed it lost €481 million (£419 million) in the first three months of the year.

READ MORE: Marks & Spencer to unveil permanent shopping experience overhaul

Revenues were down 15% compared with the same period in 2019, while commercial aircraft deliveries were down from 162 to 122.

Demand for flights has collapsed due to the coronavirus pandemic, with airlines grounding the majority of their fleets and deferring the delivery of new planes.

Mr Faury said: "We saw a solid start to the year both commercially and industrially but we are quickly seeing the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic coming through in the numbers.

"We are now in the midst of the gravest crisis the aerospace industry has ever known.

"We're implementing a number of measures to ensure the future of Airbus.

"We need to work as an industry to restore passenger confidence in air travel as we learn to co-exist with this pandemic.

"We're focused on the resilience of our company to ensure business continuity."

Airbus previously announced a plan to cut aircraft production rates by around a third.

Earlier this week it confirmed that more than 3,000 staff working at its site in Broughton, North Wales, will be furloughed.

EasyJet has agreed with Airbus to defer the delivery of 24 new aircraft.

On Tuesday, British Airways-owner IAG revealed plans to make up to 12,000 workers at the airline redundant, equivalent to more than a quarter of staff.

The firm said expects it will be "several years" until demand for air travel returns to 2019 levels.