Hello everyone and welcome to @Nairametrics Corporate News Roundup for the week ended April 5, 2020. This thread is brought to you by @BluechipTechNG.   
  
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As usual, kindly retweet this thread so that others on your timeline may see and engage. If you are just seeing this thread for the first time, we do this every Sunday at 10pm, basically bringing you bitesize news from Corporate Nigeria.

The week was quite eventful in corporate Nigeria, especially as the Coronavirus pandemic ate deeper into the global economy.

We’ve got news about more companies that are either supporting state or federal governments with funds, or providing facilities for curbing the killer disease, which is gradually forcing the whole world to embark on holiday.

We have news about corporates that shut down their operations, even as more companies continue to ask their employees to work remotely.  
We also have news about companies that posted either 2019 Full Year or First Quarter financial results. 
  
Let’s begin...

1/ Last week, some companies went above and beyond expectations, as they not only donated funds, but went ahead to donate facilities that would help curb COVID-19 in Nigeria. One of such is GTBank.

Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State was elated when he announced that the fully-equipped Covid-19 isolation centre at Onikan, donated by the bank, had been commissioned.

Sharing pictures of the 110-bed facility on his Twitter page, Governor Sanwo-Olu expressed excitement over GTBank’s swift response to the state’s call for help.

The facility will go a long way in ensuring that those who contract the disease are given the best care possible, whilst being isolated from the rest of society in order to prevent further infections.

2/ More corporate firms had to shut operations when President Muhammadu Buhari gave the sit-at-home order in Lagos, and Ogun States, as well as the Federal Capital Territory. These, aside from Ogun, were the states with high number of COVID-19 cases.

Polaris Bank Limited was among the companies that closedl down most of its banking halls across the country on March 30th, 2020. This development, according to the bank is part of its commitment towards preventing further spread of the highly contagious Coronavirus.

In a statement shared via Twitter, the bank noted that its “virtual branches” would remain open to serve customers in the meantime. In other words, customers are advised to make use of the bank’s internet banking facilities.

With the move, Polaris Bank joined a growing list of other banks and numerous other companies that have resorted to limiting physical presence in a bid to contain the virus spread.

3/ First Bank of Nigeria Limited also joined counterparts, as it announced last week that it had donated the sum of N1 billion to facilitate the fight against the Coronavirus pandemic in Nigeria.

This happened amid similar donations by other top companies in the country, especially banks, many of which are acting in accordance with agreements reached by the CBN’s Bankers’ Committee.

First Bank explained that the donation would enable the Federal Government to acquire some critical medical equipment such as testing kits, as well as provide isolation centres which are essential in the ongoing fight against the virus.

4/ More organisations and billionaires also contributed to the COVID-19 relief fund, which is warehoused by the Central Bank of Nigeria.

One of the billionaires and richest woman in Nigeria, Mrs Folorunsho Alakija disclosed that her family through Famfa Oil limited contributed N1 billion to support the fight against Coronavirus in Nigeria.

She also disclosed via Twitter that the donations symbolize their resilience, character, and strength as they plan to work with the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).

5/ One of the challenges that came with COVID-19 was that several flights had to be cancelled, causing many to call for compensation, especially for hotel reservations.

Here, Airbnb offered to pay its hosts $250 million for two and a half months reservations that have been cancelled as a result of the Coronavirus outbreak.

The hospitality company stated that the affected hosts would get 25% of their normal cancellation fee for stays booked between March 15 and May 11, 2020.

Airbnb said it recognised that there might still be uncertainty over reservations booked on or before March 14 with check-in after May 31. In the coming weeks, it would ask hosts and guests to revisit these reservations and choose to either cancel or re-commit to it.

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6/ Some corporate firms also released their financials last week. In its case, Unilever Nigeria released its audited financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2019, as it declared a turnover of N60.5 billion in the year under review.