With the Tokyo Olympics delayed to 2021 due to Covid-19, UK firms have seen their plans disrupted
The world of sport has been severely disrupted by Covid-19, with headlines highlighting everything from cancelled events and empty stadiums, to athlete health and spectator safety.To get more news about Binary option, you can visit wikifx news official website.
But the pandemic has also had a huge knock-on effect on businesses that support the sport industry - and nowhere is that more apparent than around the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
The Games, originally due to start on Friday, have been delayed until summer 2021, affecting UK firms who had been fortunate enough to win work.
British companies were set to provide parts for water sport courses, ambulances for horses, power generators, and Olympic venue construction - not to mention softer services such as sponsorship expertise.Aggreko provided generators for London's 2012 Games, including the cross-country cycling events
Glasgow-based Aggreko is the only British firm among the 66 official Tokyo Olympic partners and sponsors, and has been part of the Games since Seoul 1988, providing generators.
Its initial Tokyo contract value was around $200m (£158m) and Aggreko said earlier this year it expected that to increase to around $250m. It has received more than $100m in payments so far, as the Japanese hosts continue to deliver scheduled instalments.
Robert Wells is the managing director of Aggreko Events Services.
“A postponement is much better than a cancellation,” he says. “At the moment we are in detailed conversations with the Games' organising committee. There is a huge logistics operation to reschedule things.”
He said Aggreko was now removing generating equipment it had already installed in some Olympic venues.On 30 March, Tokyo 2020 president Yoshiro Mori announced the Games would be postponed by a year
They will go back to Aggreko's facility in Tokyo, stored, and tested to make sure they are ready for next year.
“Clearly there will be a cost of delay,” Mr Wells adds. “But we can't quantify that at the moment. We are talking continuously with the organising committee about what it may be.”
As well as generators, Aggreko is also supplying the likes of power cabling, plus electricity from existing Japanese power grids.
The firm will be employing some 500 contractors in the run-up to the Games, and 300 during the event.Meanwhile, London-based ESG will build and dismantle temporary venues for six events: triathlon, shooting, golf, tennis, rowing and hockey.
Image copyrightESGImage caption
ESG is providing the floor decking for the Olympic triathlon events to be held in central Tokyo
“Although organisers have made statements that the Games are only postponed, there are contradictory statements coming out at a lower political level - there is a certain level of uncertainty,” says Olly Watts, joint chief executive of ESG.
It has been made clear there are circumstances under which the Games could be cancelled, depending on how the virus continues in Japan and worldwide.