The Government has put in place a range of measures to assist firms to deal with the impacts of COVID 19 on their businesses, to reopen and to sustain employment. We are developing the July stimulus which will be ambitious and radical in deepening and widening the impact of the range of measures we have in place.
Covid-19 Working Capital Scheme
The Covid-19 Working Capital Scheme is offered in cooperation with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, and is supported by the InnovFin SME Guarantee facility. The scheme is operated by the SBCI through participating finance providers. It makes available a fund of up to €200 million in lending to eligible businesses that have been negatively affected by impacts arising from the outbreak of Covid-19 to enable those businesses to innovate, change or adapt in response to the impacts of the pandemic. Work is under way on a significant expansion to the scheme which will be brought to the market in the coming weeks.
The scheme is open to eligible SMEs and small mid-caps (businesses of up to 499 employees) negatively impacted by Covid-19. Loans under the scheme range from €25,000 to €1.5m and are for periods of up to three years. The maximum interest rate under the scheme is 4% and loans of up to €500,000 are available unsecured.
MFI Loan
The Covid-19 Loan, available from Microfinance Ireland (MFI), was introduced as a support to microenterprises to help them access funding arising from the Covid-19 crisis. These loans are available for eligible microenterprises responding to Covid-19-related difficulties, the negative impact of which must be a minimum of 15% of actual or projected income or profit. Loans up to €50,000 are available with terms that include a six months interest free and repayment free moratorium, with the loan to then be repaid over the remaining 30 months of the 36-month loan period. Interest rates of between 4.5% and 5.5% are available. Funding of €15.65 million has been made available to MFI since March.
Credit Guarantee Scheme
The Credit Guarantee Scheme is available to Covid-19 impacted businesses, it supports loans up to €1 million for periods of up to 7 years. The Scheme offers a partial Government guarantee (currently 80%) to banks against losses on qualifying loans to eligible SMEs. The scheme is designed to support a range of debt products appropriate to the borrowing needs of SMEs. Term loans and other products such stocking facilities, performance bonds will be covered by the Scheme. There is no direct funding provided to the Scheme. The Scheme give rise to a contingent liability with payments made on individual claims under the Scheme.
Business Continuity Support (IDA Ireland): An initial application for €2,500 support for training or advisory services related to the continued operation or re-start of businesses during the current pandemic. Further support can be applied for up to a maximum of €29,700. This support is open to small, medium or large client companies of IDA Ireland.
The Restart Grant was launched on 22 May 2020 and is a critically important tool to support small businesses to reopen their doors and get back on their feet with supports of a minimum of €2,000 up to €10,000 available. The scheme was devised in recognition of the fact that micro and small businesses were and are particularly vulnerable to the economic effects of Covid-19.
Using funding allocated by Enterprise Ireland for the Scheme, the Local Authorities are the granting authority in each of their respective areas in accordance with the criteria for the Scheme and the Local Authorities make grant payments to the bank account of qualifying businesses, in accordance with the scheme. The grants are available through the Local Authorities using a simple online application form.
The Restart Grant is just one part of a wider assistance package for business and for firms of all sizes, which includes the wage subsidy scheme, the pandemic unemployment payment for the self-employed, grants, low-cost loans, write-off of commercial rates and deferred tax liabilities, all of which will help to improve cashflow amongst SMEs. Within the funding available so far, the priority has been to assist those who have suffered most, including closure of the business, but whom will still have incurred ongoing costs.
Enterprise Ireland is working with client companies to support the stabilisation of their business so that they can undertake a developmental programme focused on recovery and growth. To support companies the agency has:
- Developed and launched a suite of new funding supports utilising the additional flexibility permitted under Ireland’s Sustaining Enterprise Scheme supporting undertakings affected by the economic repercussions of the COVID-19 outbreak under the Temporary Framework for State Aid Measure to Support the Economy in the Current COVID-19 Outbreak.
- Set up a Business Response Hub to provide information to companies on what supports are available to assist with their specific needs. To date the agency has supported 4,800 companies through the Hub.
As a first step, companies need to stabilise their business, with the two key elements of this being business planning and accessing liquidity. To assist companies with this, the following COVID-19 supports have been introduced:
Lean Business Continuity Support: This €2.5k grant supports companies to access training or advisory services related to crisis management, sustaining operations, moving to e-business/online and planning for resilience post crisis.
Reflecting the practical and immediate nature of this support, company interest and demand has been strong.
COVID-19 Business Financial Planning Grant: This grant of up to €5k provides 100 per cent funding for companies to access a financial consultant to prepare a financial plan to assist companies:
- understand their immediate financial position, secure the finance required to survive and provide a framework to sustain the business; and
- ensure they have a framework to identify and manage costs and gaps in funding.
This is a critical support for a company to strengthen their position to identify funding needs and access required funding to implement their business plan. Since its launch in April, 669 applications for funding have been received by the agency. Currently 608 have been approved.
Once a company has a financial and business continuity plan, Enterprise Ireland can provide funding for companies who have been impacted by COVID- 19, either through a reduction in turnover/profit or a significant increase in costs. The purpose of this funding is to enable the company to firstly, stabilise, and then, to implement a business sustainment plan, leading to a return to viability and contributing to the recovery of the Irish economy. The agency’s liquidity and medium-term financial supports are being delivered under the Sustaining Enterprise Fund. Support of up to €800,000 can be provided to companies, with different levels of support and funding instruments available, which are targeted at companies at different stages of development and growth (e.g. established companies, start-ups and small enterprises).
Supporting Retailers impacted by COVID-19: Enterprise Ireland launched a COVID-19 Online Retail Scheme in April to assist retailers to enhance their online capability and to develop a more competitive online offer. On 2nd July 2020 I announced that 183 retailers had been approved for €6.5m in funding as part of the scheme. The value of the scheme, which received 373 applications, was increased from €2m to €6.5m due to the high level of demand amongst retailers and the high quality of the proposals received.
The Business Continuity Voucher scheme was launched on 26th March and was closed for new applications on 15th May. It was designed for businesses across every sector that employ up to 50 people. The voucher, worth up to €2,500 in third party consultancy costs, was used by companies and sole traders to develop short-term and long-term strategies to respond to the initial Covid-19 pandemic and to plan for the eventual recovery and reopening of the economy.
The Trading Online Voucher Scheme was originally launched nationally by the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment in mid-2014. The Scheme offers financial assistance in the form of a Voucher of up to €2,500 in order to procure expert consultancy advice on trading on-line including website management and is delivered along with training and advice to help business trade online.
E-Merge (IntertradeIreland)
The E-Merge programme provides consultancy support to assist companies develop online sales and eCommerce solutions to the value of £2,500/€2800. The scheme is open to cross-border enterprises, registered on the island of Ireland, and is involved in manufacturing or tradable services (other conditions also apply). Consultancy support can assist enterprises in areas such as search engine optimisation (SEO), and website management.
Emergency Business Solutions (InterTradeIreland)
This scheme, co-funded by the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation and the Department for the Economy (NI) allows eligible companies to avail of professional advice, to the value of £2,000/€2,250 including VAT (100% funded), to address business challenges arising from the pandemic. Eligible companies are cross-border in nature and involved in manufacturing and tradable services.
Table 1. Detail of Take-up of Schemes as of 3rd July 2020
|
Scheme
|
No. of Applications
|
No. of Unsuccessful
|
No. of Successful
|
Amount approved and sanctioned for successful applicants
|
Amount actually released to successful applicants under each of the schemes to date
|
|
|
|
|
|
· Approved
· Sanctioned
|
|
|
Covid-19 Working Capital Scheme
|
3,288
|
15
|
2,966
|
* 632 loans progressed to sanction at bank level, to a total value of €76.56m
|
Drawdown figure not yet available
|
|
MFI Covid-19 loan
|
1015
|
164 declined
115 ineligible or withdrawn
|
624
|
€16,926,475
|
€12,772,964
|
|
Credit Guarantee Scheme
|
N/a
|
5 since March 2020
|
N/a
|
€1,606,000
|
€1,606,000
|
|
IDA Ireland Business Continuity Support
|
46
|
0
|
46
|
Approved – €115,000
Sanctioned – €115,000
|
Zero
|
|
Restart Grant
|
40,506
|
13,336
|
26870
|
· Approved-
€94,795,163
· Sanctioned-
€15,044,550
|
€94,795,163
|
|
Business Financial Planning
|
669
|
N/a
|
608
|
€2,990,153
|
€94,259
|
|
Lean Business Continuity Voucher
|
298
|
N/a
|
245
|
€612,500
|
€52,035
|
|
Sustaining Enterprise Fund
|
43
|
N/a
|
15
|
€6,450,000
|
€300,000
|
|
Sustaining Enterprise Fund – HPSU
|
26
|
N/a
|
22
|
€1,100,000
|
€200,000
|
|
Sustaining Enterprise Fund – Small Enterprise
|
13
|
N/a
|
6
|
€275,000
|
€100,000
|
|
Covid-19 Online Retail Scheme
|
373
|
N/a
|
183
|
€6.5 million
|
€0
|
|
The Businesses Continuity Voucher
|
14,856
|
2,512**
|
11,261
|
· Approved - €23.84m
· Sanctioned - €27m
|
2,680,700***
|
|
Trading Online Voucher Scheme
|
7,130
|
453
|
4,303
|
Approved - €9.22m
Sanctioned - €19.8m
|
1,401,815
|
*with the Covid-19 Working Capital Scheme there are two different application processes (the first with SBCI and the second with a participating bank). As such, there is an “approved” number (of firms who have received eligibility approval) and a second “sanctioned” number (of firms who have been approved lending by the bank after that first application).
**Applications Processed of 13,773 less applications approved of 11,261
***This is the amount paid to voucher recipients and consultants paid on their behalf. There are two methods of client engagement in respect of the Business Continuity Voucher (BCV).
