Two of the Stroud district's biggest employers have taken a financial hit as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, but both have committed to putting health before profit.

In a trading update published today Renishaw cut its annual profit forecast from £50-70m to £45-55m.

A company statement says: "Even before the pandemic, we were facing trading challenges including the ongoing uncertainty caused by the trade tensions between the USA and China and weaker demand in the machine tool sector.

"During the third quarter we initially experienced reduced demand in China due to the Chinese Government's actions to deal with the COVID-19 outbreak, but we have since seen a good recovery as factories have reopened.

"In our EMEA and Americas markets we did not experience a significant change in demand as a result of the pandemic during the quarter, but we believe that the effects will begin to be felt in the coming months.

"Given the uncertain macroeconomic backdrop, we expect very challenging market conditions, particularly in the automotive and aerospace sectors, in the coming periods."

A Renishaw worker at the New Mills site in Wotton-under-Edge tested positive for Covid-19 in March and the company has stated the health and welfare of employees continues to be their 'number one priority'.

"Since January we have implemented a wide range of measures to protect against the spread of COVID-19 at our sites around the world and we continue to monitor the impact of the pandemic, including a response and mitigation committee which has met daily since February.

"All our manufacturing facilities around the world are open, although most are operating at lower capacity due to reductions in staff numbers caused by a combination of school closures, shielding due to health conditions, or local operating restrictions.

"At all manufacturing sites we have implemented robust measures to protect the welfare of our employees and mitigate against business risk."

Renishaw has also been involved in Ventilator Challenge UK, a consortium of companies that is producing 20,000 ventilators for the NHS.

Meanwhile, Ecotricity boss Dale Vince has said he will not force any employee to return to the office if they feel unsafe.

The green energy company has seen its turnover fall by 20 per cent as commercial power consumption has dropped during the pandemic.

However, in an interview with the Guardian Vince ruled out the possibility of redundancies.

Fifty of the company's 700 workers have been furloughed on 100 per cent of their wages but all have been assured their jobs are safe.

Vince told the Guardian he plans to operate a cycle of working from home and from the office in order to give employees more space.