Burger King UK has warned that up to 1,600 jobs could be lost as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

About 370 of the restaurant chain's 530 UK stores have reopened since the nation went into lockdown.

Chief executive Alasdair Murdoch told the BBC the economic damage stemming from the crisis could ultimately force the company to permanently close up to 10% of its stores.

READ MORE: Scottish transport giant reveals it may not survive pandemic

He said: "We don't want to lose any (jobs).

"We try very hard not to, but one's got to assume somewhere between 5% and 10% of the restaurants might not be able to survive.

"It's not just us - I think this applies to everyone out there in our industry."

Chancellor Rishi Sunak on Wednesday unveiled a £30 billion support package to help boost the nation's economic recovery, which included plans to subsidise restaurant bills throughout August to encourage people to dine out.

However, Mr Murdoch added that Government schemes do not do enough to compensate restaurants for the combination of fixed costs and lost sales throughout the pandemic.

He added: "I don't think you can ever get over the top of this problem."

More than 3,000 British workers have applied for redundancy at Rolls-Royce, with many leaving in the next two months after the company announced a sweeping round of job cuts.

The engine-maker said that around two thirds of the workers will leave the business by the end of August.

READ MORE: Rolls-Royce to cut jobs in division that includes 1,300 Scottish workers

The news comes seven weeks after Rolls-Royce said that it would slash 9,000 jobs across its global workforce, warning that factories in the UK were set to be the worst hit.

The Derby-based maker of plane engines had already been facing problems before the coronavirus pandemic dealt a serious blow to the global economy.

It was forced to make changes to its Trent 1000 engines, grounding many of its customers' planes to perform maintenance work.

On Wednesday, the company said it was making "good progress" on fixing the Trent 1000s, and had got the number of grounded aircraft to below 10.

But the virus put extra pressure on its customers, as so-called widebody engine flying hours were down by 75% in the second quarter of the year.

About 9,000 workers are based in Derby, and Rolls-Royce’s second largest civil aerospace facility in the UK is at Inchinnan, Renfrewshire, where over 1,300 workers make compressor blades and seals.

"These are exceptional times. The Covid-19 pandemic has created a historic shock in civil aviation which will take several years to recover," said chief executive Warren East.

He added: "We are taking steps to resize our Civil Aerospace business to adapt to lower medium-term demand from customers and help secure our future. This means we have had to take the very difficult decision to lose people who have helped us become the company we are and who have been proud to work for Rolls-Royce."

"It is my first priority to treat everyone - whether they are leaving or staying - with dignity and respect."

The business revealed that cash inflow had dropped by £1.1 billion, and it had taken a further £1.1 billion one-off hit as it stopped sending out invoices.

Yet the company still managed to stay on track for its target of producing 250 engines by the end of the year, getting through 130 in the first half, Rolls-Royce said.

Its defence business has held up better than elsewhere, and there are signs that planes are starting to take off again, especially regional and business trips that are less likely to cross international borders.

It expects widebody engine flying hours to be down around 55% over the course of the year.

Housebuilding giants Persimmon and Bovis Homes owner Vistry Group have laid bare the toll taken on sales during the coronavirus lockdown, but cheered recovering demand amid cautious home-buyers.

Charles Church builder Persimmon saw new home legal completions plunge 35% to 4,900 in the six months to June 30 as revenues also dropped 32% to £1.19 billion.

READ MORE: Only one cancellation since lockdown and record week of reservations for Scottish housebuilder 

But it said building sites are now back up to normal levels of production, while demand is beginning to bounce back, with net reservations surging around 30% since its sales offices reopened in mid-May.

It was a similar picture at Vistry, which revealed that completions more than halved to 1,235 from 3,371 in the six months to June 30, but said there had been an "ongoing pick-up" in sales in the past two months, with prices remaining firm.

It comes after Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced a stamp duty cut on Wednesday south of the border, meaning buyers will pay no stamp duty on the first £500,000 of their purchase when they move home.

The move has been widely welcomed by house-builders for helping aid the sector's recovery, but it has not yet been replicated in Scotland.

Companies saw reservation rates and sales tumble when the UK was placed in lockdown, while they temporarily shut construction sites despite being able to continue building.

Persimmon and Vistry began a phased reopening of their sites in April, while sales sites reopened in May as the wider housing market was kick-started.

Persimmon said customer demand in the six weeks since the reopening of its sales offices in England had been "positive", with weekly average net private sales reservations of 278 new homes being around 30% higher year on year.

Selling prices in its first half were "resilient" at an average of around £225,050, up from £216,942 a year ago.

Group chief executive Dave Jenkinson said: "Our build programmes had returned to normal levels by period end, and we have seen encouraging sales levels throughout the period, in particular over the last six weeks when net reservations have been circa 30% ahead year on year.

"We enter the second half in a strong position, with work in progress well advanced, forward sales circa 15% ahead year on year, and cash holdings of circa £830 million."

Vistry - rebranded from Bovis Homes following a £1.1 billion takeover of Galliford Try's Linden Homes and Partnerships and Regeneration units in January - said that, despite plunging first- half sales, private home prices held up well at around £329,000.

However, it warned that profit margins will be hit in the first half by the "wide-ranging effects of Covid-19", such as additional costs during lockdown, lower levels of operating efficiency from social distancing, and longer build times.

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