Maximum coronavirus loans for large firms increased to £200m

Companies that use extended scheme to be banned from paying dividends to investors

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The UK government has banned large corporations that access its revamped Covid-19 bailout loan scheme from paying shareholder dividends after it raised the borrowing limit from 50m to 200m.

Ministers said investors should not benefit directly from dividend payouts when firms borrow from the more generous coronavirus large business interruption loan scheme, to be launched next week.