Three U.K. debt-collection agencies have been shut down after spending thousands of pounds of their clients' money at bookmakers, hotels and football clubs, BBC.com reported. Sunderland-based EDC Group NE Ltd, UK EDC Ltd and UK TCF Limited charged clients to collect debts on their behalf but failed to pass on almost £55,000 of their clients' money. The companies, which were all owned by the same director, have been dissolved by the High Court following an investigation by the Insolvency Service (IS).

Holly Willoughby’s media company is set to return to a specialist insolvency court in November following the result of a tribunal appeal, The Independent reported. Roxy Media, the media production and management firm run by the TV presenter and her husband Dan Baldwin, is facing winding-up proceedings from His Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (HMRC). A hearing at the Insolvency and Companies Court in April heard that the firm owed £377,000 in tax, which had been reduced from an unknown amount.

Polish manufacturer 7Anna, owner of the cycling brands Rondo, NS Bikes and Creme Cycles, has filed for bankruptcy. A Polish industry leader in recent years, the 24-year-old company had become known for its diverse range of bikes, from Rondo's gravel bikes to Creme's urban riders, Bike Europe reported. The news was first reported by local media Polityka, though apparently leaked court documents had already revealed the Chapter 11 filing. "The series of blows that hit us were too hard. Sometimes you have to fall to rise stronger," the CEO Tomasz Cybula told Polityka.

The United States and the European Union on Thursday published much-anticipated details of the trade agreement they struck verbally last month, which will see Washington maintain high tariffs on vehicles imported from the 27-nation bloc until it takes steps to lower its levies on many American industrial and agricultural products, the New York Times reported.

Mediobanca shareholders rejected a roughly €7bn proposal to acquire wealth manager Banca Generali in a pivotal vote on Thursday, Reuters reported. The Milanese bank said that 35% of investors accepted the proposal, just shy of the 50% plus one vote needed to pass. 32% of investors abstained, while 10% rejected the proposal. The outcome could threaten Mediobanca’s independence as the bank seeks to fend off a takeover by Italian competitor Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS).

The number of companies going bust across England and Wales remained elevated last month, new data shows, as pressures intensify for firms grappling with higher costs, Reuters reported. Official data from the Insolvency Service showed there were 2,081 company insolvencies in July, edging up by 1% compared with June. The number of compulsory liquidations was slightly higher than in June and up 11% compared with the same month in 2024. Compulsory liquidations happen when a company is forced to close when it cannot pay money owed to creditors.

The Government is poised to take over operations at Britain’s third largest steelworks, aiming to save 1,500 jobs at Sanjeev Gupta’s Rotherham-based factory, The Telegraph reported. The High Court heard on Wednesday that the Government’s official receiver is ready to step in as administrator if Mr Gupta is unable to finalise a rescue deal involving £75m from US giant BlackRock.

U.K. inflation climbed to an 18-month high on the back of surging food, transport and hospitality prices, putting the Bank of England under pressure to reconsider the pace of interest-rate cuts, Bloomberg News reported. Consumer prices rose 3.8% in July from a year earlier, up from 3.6% in June and the fastest pace since January 2024, the Office for National Statistics said Wednesday. The pickup was forecast by the BOE but exceeded the 3.7% economists were predicting. Services inflation, a closely watched gauge of underlying price pressures, climbed to 5%, above the BOE’s 4.9% forecast.