Expandedsupportsforlocal businessesaffectedbyCovid-19
A MAJOR expansion of supports for all Wexford businesses impacted by Covid-19 has been announced by the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, Heather Humphreys TD,
Nationally, the package is worth €1bn in liquidity measures and includes a new €180m Sustaining Enterprise Fund for firms in the manufacturing and international services sectors. Free mentoring and online training are also available for all SMEs.
Minister Humphreys said, ‘ This package is a significant step-up in the supports available for all businesses in all sectors at this very difficult time.
‘ The measures have been developed to meet the varying needs of Irish enterprise and they are very specifically targeted by size, sector and need.
‘I want to reiterate to firms that we will continue to use all available tools at our disposal to support them and keep money flowing through the economy in the difficult months ahead.’
The package will see an additional €450m of lending provided through the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland (SBCI) for SMEs in all sectors, including agri-food.
The €200m SBCI COVID-19 Working Capital Loan Scheme will increase by €250m to €450m. The Scheme is providing essential liquidity support to businesses, with over 1,400 applications received by the SBCI so far.
There will also be an additional €200m in Covid-19 funding for the Future Growth Loan Scheme, which will be released in tranches, to provide longer-term loans to Covid-19 impacted businesses. Loan amounts will range €100,000 to a maximum of €3m per applicant.
In addition, the new €2,500 Business Continuity Voucher, available through the Wexford Local Enterprise Office, is designed for businesses across every sector that employ up to 50 people. The voucher can be used by companies to develop short-term and long-term strategies to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Supports also include an additional €30m for microenterprises through Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs) and Microfinance Ireland (MFI), which is administering special COVID-19 Loans, will receive an additional €13m in capital support to bring its total lending capacity up to €20m for the coming period.
The Minister also announced a substantial reduction in interest rates on these loans from 7.8% to 4.5%. Loans can be made up to €50,000 with no repayments required and no interest charged in the first six months.
This reduced rate will be available to all microenterprises from retail and tourism to software and transport, with less than 10 employees, where the application is made through the LEOs or Local Development Committees. The new rate for direct applications to MFI will also be reduced to 5.5%.
The Minister is increasing support for two trading online initiatives to a total of €7.6m – the first for microenterprises in partnership with the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Richard Bruton TD, and the second for retailers with over 10 employees.
The first online initiative is an expansion of the €2,500 Trading Online Voucher Scheme for microenterprises, in agreement with Minister Bruton. An additional €3.3m is being provided to the scheme, bringing the total available to €5.6m.
The Ministers also announced new flexibilities with the €2,500 Trading Online Vouchers, allowing businesses to apply for a second voucher of up to €2,500 where they have successfully utilised their first one; and allowing subscriptions to low-cost online retailing platform solutions to quickly establish a retailing presence online.
The second online trading support will be available exclusively for indigenous retail businesses with over 10 employees. The Minister is making a new €2m COVID-19 Retail Online Scheme available through Enterprise Ireland.
A further two new supports to assist companies planning for the future have also been announced: a Business Financial Planning Grant from Enterprise Ireland to the value of €5,000 to assist companies to develop a Business Sustainment Plan and to engage the services of an approved Financial Consultant, and a new €2,500 LEAN Business Improvement Grant from Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland to help companies quickly access expertise to review and optimise operations at a time of crisis and identify the key measures needed to ensure continued viability.
In the manufacturing and international services sectors, which employ over 460,000 people directly and a similar number of indirect employees, Minister Humphreys announced a major new Sustaining Enterprise Fund of up to €180m.
This is specifically aimed at all firms with 10 or more employees impacted by Covid-19 that are vulnerable but viable.
The Fund will be operated by Enterprise Ireland, providing repayable advances of up to €800,000 as agreed with the EU under new State Aid rules and, together with leveraged lending from the financial markets, should see up to €500m of additional investment in vulnerable but viable firms. These grants will only be repayable if and when a business returns to financial good health. Early stage firms are encouraged to apply for a new €750,000 Competitive Start Fund.