Skyscanner, the Edinburgh-based Unicorn, has announced it is to cut up to 30 per cent of its staff due to coronavirus.

Moshe Rafiah, of Skyscanner, said: “Skyscanner took early measures to mitigate against the impact of Covid-19 on our business - we froze all but essential hiring, dramatically reduced our discretionary spending and introduced a voluntary change in working pattern programme.

"We did this both in the hope that travel would recover quickly, but also to protect the roles held by our highly valued team, our most important asset as a business.

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“We had hoped those actions would be enough. However, while we’re confident of Skyscanner’s recovery in the long-term and we’re seeing early signs of growth in the sector, we now know it will take longer than originally anticipated for travel to return to normal. As a result, it is with deep sadness that we are today proposing changes to the business.

“Regrettably, these proposed changes include job losses.”

It includes the loss of up to 84 jobs at its Edinburgh base. The firm, known for finding bargain travel deals, launched in 2003 in the capital.

It was Scotland's first privately held company to be worth more than £1 billion. In 2016 it was sold to Chinese firm Ctrip, now Trip.com Group, in a deal that valued the firm at £1.4bn, making it the largest tech travel deal in Europe.

About 300 of the 1,500 workforce globally are expected to lose their jobs due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. The Edinburgh office is unlikely to close but offices in Budapest, Hungary and Sofia, Bulgaria, are projected to shut.

Around 500 jobs are being cut at luxury fashion firm Burberry in the UK and globally as it axes office space and makes cuts across stores outside Britain after lockdown sent sales tumbling.

The firm said around 150 office jobs are expected to go in the UK, where it is headquartered, and a further 350 overseas as it looks to slash annual costs by a further £55 million.

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This comes on top of the previously announced £140 million cost savings.
The cuts will affect around 5% of its 10,000 employees and 4% of its 3,500 in the UK.

It said it would also look to axe some office space as home working has proved successful amid lockdowns worldwide.

The group did not say how many offices would go or where, but confirmed it would keep its Horseferry Road HQ in London and its Leeds site.

It also stressed UK retail and manufacturing jobs would not be affected by the latest cost-cutting plans.

The details came as Burberry revealed comparable retail sales plunged 45% in the three months to June 27 due to the coronavirus lockdown closing stores and amid travel restrictions worldwide. Retail revenues were 49% lower.

It started the quarter with around 60% of stores closed, which reduced to 50% in June.

London was among the cities particularly badly impacted, as the firm makes much of its sales in the capital from tourist trade, which was been decimated by the grounding of planes during lockdowns.

Marco Gobbetti, chief executive of Burberry, said: "Sales were severely impacted by the drop in luxury demand from Covid-19 and we expect it will take time to return to pre-crisis levels with the resumption of overseas travel."

He added: "As we enter the second phase of our strategy, we are sharpening our focus on product and making other organisational changes to increase our agility and generate structural savings that we will be able to reinvest into consumer-facing activities to further strengthen our luxury positioning."

The group also warned it expects its second quarter to the end of September to be "materially impacted" by the pandemic, with sales forecast to drop by up to 20%.
This comes after comparable sales declines narrowed to 20% last month.

"In retail, tourist flows are likely to remain negligible, and store operations are continuing to face significant headwinds, with some remaining closed and operating with reduced trading hours," it said.

It said trading in the second half will "largely depend on the actions governments pursue to control the spread of the virus as economies restart", including the potential for a second peak of the pandemic and additional lockdowns.

People will be able to enjoy a drink in a pub, have meals inside a restaurant and get their hair cut for the first time in months as lockdown restrictions continue to ease in Scotland.

Barbers and hair salons can reopen from Wednesday with enhanced hygiene measures in place.

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Indoor pubs and restaurants are also allowed to open their doors again, following guidance and mitigation measures, as rules are relaxed in phase three of the Scottish Government's route map out of lockdown.

Further relaxations include museums, galleries, monuments, cinemas and libraries being permitted to open again with precautions in place - for example, tickets being secured in advance.

Scotland's tourism sector can also reopen, including all holiday accommodation, while the childcare sector can fully reopen.

Places of worship can open their doors for communal prayer and contemplation, with physical distancing and numbers limited to 50.

Restrictions on attendance at weddings and funerals will be eased but numbers remain limited and physical distancing is required.

Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon urged people to adhere to guidelines in place such as providing contact details to assist with tracing where necessary to help prevent a resurgence of the virus.

She told the Scottish Government's coronavirus briefing: "The changes that come into force [on Wednesday] are the highest risk changes so far since we started to come out of lockdown because many of them involve indoor activity and we know the the risk of the virus spreading indoors, in a pub for example, is significantly higher than outdoors."

She added: "I would make a plea to all customers to accept that, if you want to go somewhere like a hairdresser or a place of worship or to a popular restaurant, you will be asked to provide contact details.

"You should co-operate with anyone who is asking you to do that.

"In fact, if you're not prepared to provide your contact details, my message to you is pretty blunt - don't go to these places, because you could be putting others at greater risk."

She continued: "Our most immediate risk is not a second wave of Covid, it is a resurgence of the first wave."

People wanting beauty treatments will have to wait a little while longer as personal retail services such as beauticians and tailors cannot reopen until July 22, with enhanced hygiene measures.

On that date, colleges and universities can make a phased return to on campus learning as part of a blended model with remote teaching.

No date has yet been given for the return of live events in outdoor and indoor venues, reopening of theatres, bingo halls, nightclubs, casinos and other entertainment venues and reopening of non-essential offices.

There is also no confirmed date for the restarting of amateur contact sports outdoors for adults, reopening of indoor gyms and resumption of driving lessons and test.

Changes in these sectors are currently not expected to take place before July 31.

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