Most businesses have been reporting a significant fall in their revenues due to sudden drop in demand on account of people staying indoors and the government advising businesses and other institutions to temporarily shut down. These conditions, however, are favouring a few sectors whose services have now become highly valued to the benefit of the general public, as they are providing much-needed respite to ordinary citizens who have been locked down in their houses. Though there are very few sectors in the British economy that have been impacted comparatively low by the current pandemic, today we will be discussing about three such sectors and see how they have come to the support of the country in these trying times, and how different companies of these sectors who provide these services have performed and are expected to fare during the year 2020.
Online businesses â These business have become the lifeline of the country. From delivering food to essential medicines, to people at their doorsteps, they are keeping the necessities of the country fulfilled. Since the beginning of the outbreak, it was clear that there could be a case that more and more people would have to stay indoors to protect themselves from being infected from the virus. Visiting supermarkets was also not going to be an option because it would have led to getting in close contact with other people, which would have defeated the very purpose of breaking the chain and remaining in quarantine. Online delivery businesses have been able to help in this situation in two cases; first, they allow people to stay at home and order their provisions online, second, and most importantly they help in the containment of contamination. When provisions are packaged in a central location, they are touched by very few hands who follow strict contamination rules, whereas in a supermarket there is a chance that a product may have been touched by several hands.
Offices at home through the online presence or simply the option of work from home is also an alternative that is gaining wide acceptance these days which allows someone to stay connected to their businesses or offices from the confines of their houses while a lockdown is in place. Previously when the internet was not much in use, a general lockdown would have meant a significant amount of business activity loss. Today however people are able to conduct sizable amount of business from their houses leading to far less amount of business losses and low levels of individual productivity losses. Banking sector, insurance, education, media and telecommunication are some of the sectors that have benefited by asking their staff to stay home and work online. When a significant business activity is not lost, authorities are also not hard pressed to allow many people to come out of their home, thereby making their quarantine efforts much more successful.
Healthcare sector â The Healthcare sector is one of those sectors whose services are needed the most in times of such public healthcare emergencies. Right from the diagnosis of the suspected number of cases to providing medicines to the infected patients, the entire effort is a herculean task if the threat of a pandemic to a country is seen in its entirety. There is again the requirement of other healthcare supplies like ventilator equipmentâs, breathing oxygen cylinders, masks, disinfectants, safety equipmentâs and services of healthcare personal which are far more important in times of such emergencies instead of just medicines. In fact, during this current pandemic, the need for proper diagnostic kits was felt the most and its shortage is being blamed for a significant number of secondary infections.
The state of an extreme shortage of the equipmentâs and accessories can be understood from the fact that Italy, which has now become the focal point of the coronavirus pandemic, has made an international request for such supplies to deal with the healthcare emergency in the country. Several countries and corporations have been coming out and sending these equipmentâs to the country in the past couple of days. Given the additional amount of pressure healthcare infrastructure in the country would face, this is the time authorities will also make wartime like purchases of these provisions to deal with the deteriorating state of eventualities. Over and above that these times also require that additional care be taken of the elderly and the high-risk category of the populace who have been shown to be particularly suitable to this pandemic. Patients with a history of diabetes and heart ailments need to be given special attention other than the very young ones who are generally suspectable to such infections. There is no branch of the healthcare sector whose services are not accentuated at this time. Several companies world over have already reported getting large orders for specialised equipmentâs and several companies have even come out and offered to supply medicines and other associated provisions to effected countries for free.
Green technologies â Green technologies also have a part to play in helping the country in times of such exigencies. When people are working from remote locations, they are more often than not away from grid power and green technologies like solar power and lithium-ion technologies to keep people connected to their businesses. The use of these technologies will not only help bring down the carbon footprint during the period that people need to go remote but will also help businesses save some costs as the use of grid power will be minimised. In this regard, internet can also be considered a green technology which has been hugely responsible for making the concept of work from home a huge success. This has, in multiple ways, contributed to helping the country in fighting the pandemic. Not only does it allow people to order provisions online without going out of the confines of their houses, but also allows to work from home helping them to save a lot on fuel costs that would have been spent on the transportation of these people from their homes to places of work and back, and to shops and supermarkets to buy their provisions. The internet also helps people to stay connected and get all the information they want about what has been happening in the country and to get updated instructions as to what they need to do to protect themselves and their families.
Conclusion â Much of the companies operating in the above three sectors will see a significant amount of business disruption as more and more people will try to avail of these services during this difficult time. This pandemic will also bring these companies and their services in focus as how their unique features have helped to effectively deal with a public emergency of such magnitude. These companies will most likely report good revenues for the year and could very well be rewarded handsomely by the capital markets.