If you haven’t yet applied for a PPP (Paycheck Protection Program) loan, you may still have a shot. However, that shot is going to miss its target if you don’t act now–and I mean now.
Let me explain: The initial iteration of the program ran out of its $350 billion of funding almost immediately, and small businesses that weren’t funded initially have been cooling their heels since then. Congress, happily, has since reloaded the program with billions more dollars, which become available to the online system used by banks Monday morning (April 27) at 10:30 a.m. Eastern time.
So, please: If you need some of that money, get your applications in now.
Before I go any further, I need to caveat everything you just read, and everything you will read in the rest of this article, quite vehemently. I am neither a financial nor a legal professional. (My subject matter expertise is quite different: I’m a customer experience expert consultant and I emphatically do not do financial consulting.) The information in this article is gathered from sources I believe to be reliable, but I may be wrong about this and/or, as a layperson, I may have misinterpreted it in my summary below. Furthermore, much of the information from the government itself is still unclear or in flux, so that’s another variable to be aware of.
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Where not to apply
Where should you apply? Well, first, here’s whom to avoid: the big banks, most specifically (I have heard), Chase, which has developed, deservedly or not, a spotty reputation for how it handled applications initially, and which is now brazenly warning even existing applicants that they should probably look elsewhere.
Where to apply
To give credit where credit is due (see what I did there?), smaller regional banks and credit unions did a great job the first time around, and are where I’d ideally suggest you go this time around as well. However, they are, by and large, only accepting applications from their existing banking customers, and, like everyone else in this landscape, they expect any new money to evaporate soon.
If you don’t have an existing relationship with one of these regional banks or credit unions, are you out of luck?
With them, probably. But, in a heartening development, fintechs (online not-quite-banks) have been approved to give out PPP loans as well. You can apply right online with
• If you apply for more money than you actually can use on payroll or other permitted expenses in the 8 weeks after you get the loan, it will be turned into an extremely low interest loan, rather than being forgiven. The rule of thumb here is an important one: don’t bend too far over backwards to try to get a huge PPP loan; sensible business operations are what matter most in this challenging time.
• However, there are intelligent ways to make sure you use as much of the loan as makes sense, in ways that can achieve forgiveness. Once you get your loan, be sure to read this article on how to have the best shot at 100% loan forgiveness.
Are there programs other than the PPP that I should be applying for?
Definitely. First off, the EIDL (Economic Injury Disaster Loan).
While the SBA website for this currently says that there has been a lapse in funding, the funding should be restored presently. This money is quite wonderful in that there is no expectation of repayment.
Also consider local and state programs, whether COVID-19 specific or pre-existing.
Finally, there are some novel opportunities out there. For one, Facebook is giving grants to small businesses within the locales where they have offices.
For further reading
This is the fourth article on government loans that I’ve written recently. Again, all of these articles are based on my understandings/my interviews with professionals. I am not, myself, a financial or legal professional.
TOKYO (AP) — Japanese technology group SoftBank swung back to profitability in the July-September quarter, boosted by positive results in its Vision Fund investments.
Tokyo-based SoftBank Group Corp. reported Tuesday a fiscal second quarter profit of nearly 1.18 trillion yen ($7.7 billion), compared with a 931 billion yen loss in the year-earlier period.
Quarterly sales edged up about 6% to nearly 1.77 trillion yen ($11.5 billion).
SoftBank credited income from royalties and licensing related to its holdings in Arm, a computer chip-designing company, whose business spans smartphones, data centers, networking equipment, automotive, consumer electronic devices, and AI applications.
The results were also helped by the absence of losses related to SoftBank’s investment in office-space sharing venture WeWork, which hit the previous fiscal year.
WeWork, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2023, emerged from Chapter 11 in June.
SoftBank has benefitted in recent months from rising share prices in some investment, such as U.S.-based e-commerce company Coupang, Chinese mobility provider DiDi Global and Bytedance, the Chinese developer of TikTok.
SoftBank’s financial results tend to swing wildly, partly because of its sprawling investment portfolio that includes search engine Yahoo, Chinese retailer Alibaba, and artificial intelligence company Nvidia.
SoftBank makes investments in a variety of companies that it groups together in a series of Vision Funds.
The company’s founder, Masayoshi Son, is a pioneer in technology investment in Japan. SoftBank Group does not give earnings forecasts.
Shopify Inc. executives brushed off concerns that incoming U.S. President Donald Trump will be a major detriment to many of the company’s merchants.
“There’s nothing in what we’ve heard from Trump, nor would there have been anything from (Democratic candidate) Kamala (Harris), which we think impacts the overall state of new business formation and entrepreneurship,” Shopify’s chief financial officer Jeff Hoffmeister told analysts on a call Tuesday.
“We still feel really good about all the merchants out there, all the entrepreneurs that want to start new businesses and that’s obviously not going to change with the administration.”
Hoffmeister’s comments come a week after Trump, a Republican businessman, trounced Harris in an election that will soon return him to the Oval Office.
On the campaign trail, he threatened to impose tariffs of 60 per cent on imports from China and roughly 10 per cent to 20 per cent on goods from all other countries.
If the president-elect makes good on the promise, many worry the cost of operating will soar for companies, including customers of Shopify, which sells e-commerce software to small businesses but also brands as big as Kylie Cosmetics and Victoria’s Secret.
These merchants may feel they have no choice but to pass on the increases to customers, perhaps sparking more inflation.
If Trump’s tariffs do come to fruition, Shopify’s president Harley Finkelstein pointed out China is “not a huge area” for Shopify.
However, “we can’t anticipate what every presidential administration is going to do,” he cautioned.
He likened the uncertainty facing the business community to the COVID-19 pandemic where Shopify had to help companies migrate online.
“Our job is no matter what comes the way of our merchants, we provide them with tools and service and support for them to navigate it really well,” he said.
Finkelstein was questioned about the forthcoming U.S. leadership change on a call meant to delve into Shopify’s latest earnings, which sent shares soaring 27 per cent to $158.63 shortly after Tuesday’s market open.
The Ottawa-based company, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, reported US$828 million in net income for its third quarter, up from US$718 million in the same quarter last year, as its revenue rose 26 per cent.
Revenue for the period ended Sept. 30 totalled US$2.16 billion, up from US$1.71 billion a year earlier.
Subscription solutions revenue reached US$610 million, up from US$486 million in the same quarter last year.
Merchant solutions revenue amounted to US$1.55 billion, up from US$1.23 billion.
Shopify’s net income excluding the impact of equity investments totalled US$344 million for the quarter, up from US$173 million in the same quarter last year.
Daniel Chan, a TD Cowen analyst, said the results show Shopify has a leadership position in the e-commerce world and “a continued ability to gain market share.”
In its outlook for its fourth quarter of 2024, the company said it expects revenue to grow at a mid-to-high-twenties percentage rate on a year-over-year basis.
“Q4 guidance suggests Shopify will finish the year strong, with better-than-expected revenue growth and operating margin,” Chan pointed out in a note to investors.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.
TORONTO – RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust says it has cut almost 10 per cent of its staff as it deals with a slowdown in the condo market and overall pushes for greater efficiency.
The company says the cuts, which amount to around 60 employees based on its last annual filing, will mean about $9 million in restructuring charges and should translate to about $8 million in annualized cash savings.
The job cuts come as RioCan and others scale back condo development plans as the market softens, but chief executive Jonathan Gitlin says the reductions were from a companywide efficiency effort.
RioCan says it doesn’t plan to start any new construction of mixed-use properties this year and well into 2025 as it adjusts to the shifting market demand.
The company reported a net income of $96.9 million in the third quarter, up from a loss of $73.5 million last year, as it saw a $159 million boost from a favourable change in the fair value of investment properties.
RioCan reported what it says is a record-breaking 97.8 per cent occupancy rate in the quarter including retail committed occupancy of 98.6 per cent.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.
