Whitbread, the owner of Premier Inn, has asked landlords for a 50% rent reduction amid the Coronavirus crisis.

As hotels were closed over lockdown, the group has suffered from a drop in revenues and large losses during the first half of 2020.

Whitbread also owns Beefeater and Brewers Fayre brands. Earlier this year, the company announced 6,000 job cuts.

In the six months ended 27 August, the group posted a £660.5m loss. This is a 483.6% fall in profits to the £172.2m in profits Whitbread made in the previous year.

A Whitbread spokesperson said that the business “has taken decisive action to ensure that our cost base reflects the low levels of demand”.

“Throughout the pandemic to date, we have paid our rent commitments in full, even when our hotels and restaurants were forced to close.

“With ongoing government restrictions expected to result in subdued market demand into the first half of 2021, we are now asking our landlords to support us, as other stakeholders have during the pandemic, through a reduction in rent for the December quarter in recognition of the current environment.”

Andrew Jones, is the chief executive of LondonMetric. This is a FTSE 250 property company that has Premier Inn as a tenant. He said that Whitbread has “behaved impeccably” towards to landlords “and so we will look to help them with their cash flow whilst the business recovers”.

A permanent transfer of value from our shareholders to theirs is not appropriate for a company still valued at over £6bn. There are no contractual provisions for landlords to share gains in the good years and so sharing pain in the tough years seems inequitable. After all, you can’t un-sign a contract.”

Whitbread shares are trading +0.67% at 3,159.00 (0925GMT). In the year to date, shares have fallen from highs of 4,259.53.

Octopus Energy has been valued at over $2bn after completing a deal with Japanese utility company Tokyo Gas.

The energy startup will be supplying electricity to homes in Japan. Under the deal, Tokyo Gas will buy a 9.7% stake in Octopus for $200m.

Greg Jackson, the founder and chief executive of the energy company, said: “When Origin invested less than eight months ago, we said it was fuel for stage 2 of our mission. Since then, Octopus Energy has accelerated that mission to make the global green revolution faster and cheaper by launching Octopus Energy Germany and New Zealand, acquiring Octopus Energy USA and acquiring Upside Energy to deepen our smart grid capabilities with their powerful technology.”

Takashi Uchida, the present of Tokyo Gas, said “Through this partnership, we will contribute to the achievement of a better lifestyle for customers by realising value creation and delivery tailored to every one of them.”

Octopus Energy is one of the UK’s fastest-growing energy suppliers. It has supplied energy to 1.8m homes in the UK.

Earlier this year, the group announced plans to create 1,000 new technology jobs.

Boris Johnson, said the new jobs will “provide exciting opportunities across the country for those who want to be at the cutting edge of the global green revolution”.

“It’s UK tech companies like Octopus who will ensure we continue to build back greener and remain a world leader in pioneering renewable energy, leading the path to net zero whilst creating thousands of skilled jobs.”

The FTSE 100 was 0.15% in this morning’s trading.

Travel stocks and shares in hospitality, however, edged up amid the hopes that the new Covid strain is slowing down.

The top riser on the FTSE 100 was Airline group IAG, which was up 3%. Rolls Royce was 1.75% higher and hotel group Whitbread was up 2%.

Shares in Europe have opened higher with Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC both up 0.5%.

David Madden of CMC Markets said: “The French government started to soften its stance with respect to the two-day passenger and goods ban and that set the tone in European markets yesterday.

“The fears of the UK being cut off from the rest of Europe faded [yesterday] and traders bought back into equity markets as they took the view that goods would be freely moving across the English Channel again in the near-term.”

The price of oil also dipped on Wednesday on the latest Covid developments and concerns over Donald Trump’s threat not to sign the US stimulus bill.

Brent crude is down 1% at $49.55 and US crude fell to $46.50.

Stephen Innes, chief global market strategist at AXI was more hopeful on Trump and the stimulus bill, saying: “No one will walk away from a stimulus deal; it is all about what contours get changed. And frankly, I do not think Main Street will mind getting a $2000 surprise stocking stuffer, and neither will the markets.”

Raffi Boyadjian of XM commented on Trump, the FTSE, and currencies: “While it seems more likely than not that Trump will eventually sign the stimulus bill, it may be wrong to underestimate his determination to frustrate life for the incoming Biden administration as much as possible.

“But for now, optimism is the order of the day as investors were encouraged from some easing of the UK travel ban in Europe. France has decided to reopen its borders to UK lorry drivers coming through the Channel but will only allow those that test negative for the coronavirus.

“Currencies were similarly buoyed by the receding fears that the new virus strain would significantly hamper the global recovery, with progress on reopening the French-UK border underlining the positive tone.”

The FTSE 100 is currently trading -0.085% at 6,447.70 (1030GMT).

Bank of England interest rate-setter Andy Haldane has said that the UK government support should continue until the Coronavirus pandemic ends.

In an interview with The Guardian, Haldane said that unemployment was “public enemy number one” and that the government should continue job support to prevent the unemployment rate creeping higher.

Since the pandemic, unemployment levels have risen from below 4% to over 6%.

“For me, many decades on, it remains public enemy number one, because of the devastating impact it has on people’s lives and their families’ lives,” he said.

“Policy has been tremendously important. A huge amount of insurance has been provided by the government and the Bank of England – supporting people’s jobs, supporting incomes, supporting businesses and supporting borrowing costs. Without that insurance the outcome for jobs, incomes and the economy would have been massively, massively worse.”

“Policy insurance has been crucial and will remain crucial during that bridging period as we hopefully squeeze the risk of the virus out of the system and reduce the risk of losing jobs and businesses. We need to provide that bridge, that insurance policy, for as long as the risk of either or both those things remains high.”

He added that the Bank of England would continue to provide support for as long as was needed.

Haldane said that there was still a long way to go beyond the Covid crisis and providing support is necessary for the UK population. He said: “We are still in a hole and the hole is still deep. We need to keep climbing out that hole through policy measures and the vaccine. But once we have climbed out – and we will – we mustn’t forget about long-term structural issues: what will give us good work at good pay.”

Rishi Sunak said in November that he would be extending the furlough scheme until the end of April.

The chancellor also announced that government-backed loans that are designed to support firms throughout the pandemic would continue to give “certainty well ahead of the 45 day redundancy notice period, with budget setting out the next phase of support more than 45 days before the new end date of the scheme”.

“Our package of support for businesses and workers continues to be one of the most generous and effective in the world – helping our economy to recover and protecting livelihoods across the country,” said Sunak.

“We know the premium businesses place on certainty, so it is right that we enable them to plan ahead regardless of the path the virus takes, which is why we’re providing certainty and clarity by extending this support.”