Europe

Mastercard's agreement to settle a landmark lawsuit brought on behalf of British consumers drew criticism on Wednesday, in a dispute that could deter funders from involvement in Britain's burgeoning class action sector, Reuters reported. The global payments processor in December announced an agreement to settle long-running litigation over card fees for 200 million pounds, far below the 10 billion-pound ($12.6 billion) valuation previously put on the lawsuit.

A solicitor’s secretary has won around €7,000 for unpaid wages and statutory redundancy after her employer became insolvent and a plan to have her transfer to another firm fell through, The Irish Times reported. The Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) made orders against David Gaffney, trading as Gaffney Solicitors, on foot of complaints under the Payment of Wages Act 1991 and the Redundancy Payments Act 1967 by Leona Erangey in a decision published on Wednesday.

Cash-strapped Thames Water bought itself some more time to reorganize its debts after a London judge approved an emergency loan worth as much as £3 billion ($3.8 billion), Bloomberg News reported. The plan will see the money come from a number of Thames’ existing senior creditors, including investment firms Elliott Management, Silver Point and Pimco. The loan comes weeks before Thames, the UK’s largest water and sewer company, was due to run out of cash and gives some much needed breathing space for it to negotiate a major restructuring with its lenders.

Company insolvencies have surged to a 16-year high as bosses give up ahead of Rachel Reeves’s tax raid, official figures show, The Telegraph reported. More businesses went under last month than in any January since the financial crisis. The number of corporate insolvencies jumped by 10.7pc year-on-year to hit 1,971, which means nearly 500 companies went bust every week. The monthly total was up by 6.5pc compared to December and was the highest January total since 2009, when the economy was reeling from the credit crunch.

U.K. annual inflation in January reached its highest level since March last year, complicating the picture for the Bank of England after it said it would cut interest rates gradually amid a weak outlook for economic growth, the Wall Street Journal reported. Consumer prices were 3.0% higher in January than a year earlier, up from 2.5% in December, the Office for National Statistics said Wednesday.

Three creditors of Mirage Retail Group, the bankrupt parent of bankrupt household chain Blokker, have claimed the stores of retail chain Minso Nederland, according to bankruptcy administrator Job van Hooff, NL Times reported. Miniso is the only part of the group that is not yet bankrupt, and may be able to generate money for the creditors. Miniso is a Chinese retail formula that has grown to over 7,000 branches worldwide since its foundation in 2023. The retail formula was introduced in the Netherlands five years ago under Mirage Retail Group as the franchisee.

Truck maker Scania agreed to buy Northvolt’s heavy industry business, as the battery maker continues to work through a restructuring process, the Wall Street Journal reported. “This acquisition will provide access to a highly skilled and experienced team and a strong portfolio of battery systems built in Gdansk for industrial segments, such as construction and mining, complementing Scania’s current customer offering,” a Scania spokesperson said.