German industrial production plunged by a record 18 per cent month on month in April, as the coronavirus lockdown caused major disruption to factories across most manufacturing sectors of Europe’s biggest economy, the Financial Times reported. The federal statistics agency said it was the biggest fall since its records began in 1991, underlining the heavy toll the pandemic crisis has taken on Europe’s industrial heartland. The vast German car industry was hit hardest. Its output collapsed to a quarter of its level the previous month.

TheCityUK — a collection of the Square Mile’s titans — calculates the weight of unsustainable debt on UK company balance sheets is above £107bn and it could turn toxic unless neutralised, the Financial Times reported in a commentary. Almost in the same breath, Anne Richards, head of Fidelity, warns that asset managers can’t, unlike the Titan Atlas, hold up the sky and recapitalise the entire UK economy. Companies are queueing up to ease the strains on their balance sheets as a result of coronavirus and lockdown.

Emerging and developing economies will shrink this year for the first time in at least six decades, according to the World Bank, underscoring the mounting economic toll from the coronavirus pandemic as it spreads across the world, the Financial Times reported. The bank’s forecast is that as many as 100m people in the developing world will be tipped into extreme poverty by a projected 2.5 per cent contraction in emerging markets’ gross domestic product, with incomes per capita set to shrink 3.6 per cent globally. The bank defines extreme poverty as an income of less than $1.90 a day.

Swissport Belgium SA/NV, a loss-making unit of Swissport International AG which provides ground services at Brussels airport, will file for bankruptcy after attempts to turn around the business failed, Swissport said on Monday, Reuters reported. Its Belgian cleaning business will also file for bankruptcy, but the group’s separate cargo business in Brussels and Liege is unaffected, Swissport added in a statement. Swissport, owned by China’s HNA Group, is the world’s largest provider of airport ground services and air cargo handling with operations at 300 airports in 47 countries.

Intu shopping centre in Milton Keynes could begin an insolvency process by the end of the month as debts have worsened during the Covid-19 crisis, it has been revealed, the MK Citizen reported. The shopping giants, who also owns the Trafford Centre and Lakeside, have put administrators on standby, Sky News has reported. All the centres are said to be in jeopardy unless the company can strike a deal with lenders over the next couple of weeks. Intu Properties is at a critical phase in negotiations and has lined up KPMG to act as administrators if the talks fail, says Sky News.

Europeans have begun to return to work, shopping and dining out, suggesting the worst of the economic damage inflicted by coronavirus pandemic lockdowns has passed, but overall activity remains well below normal standards, pointing to the long haul back to recovery the region faces, the Financial Times reported. High-frequency data indicators such as mobility and consumer spending suggest that the sharp economic contraction that has gripped major European economies since March began to ease in May and early June.

An investment company backed by billionaire banker Joseph Safra is considering a takeover bid for airport foreign exchange provider Travelex Holdings Ltd, the Mail on Sunday reported, citing financial industry sources, Bloomberg News reported. The Safra bid comes after Finablr-owned Travelex appointed PWC to find a buyer for the unit. On April 30, Finablr disclosed that its debt burden stood at around $1.3 billion, “materially above” the levels of indebtedness previously given to the board.

Housebuilders in the UK are collapsing at an accelerating rate, threatening the much-needed supply of new homes, the Financial Times reported. Last year 368 companies in the sector filed for insolvency, according to data obtained from The Insolvency Service under the Freedom of Information Act. That compares with 207 in 2016, with the number rising each year since. The builders filing for insolvency were overwhelmingly small and medium sized enterprises, according to accountants Price Bailey, which obtained the data.

Switzerland has opened a probe related to $2 billion of loans to Mozambique that were organized by banks including Credit Suisse Group AG and VTB Bank PJSC, in a scandal that has already attracted the attention of prosecutors in the U.S, Bloomberg News reported. The criminal probe started in February against “persons unknown” on suspicion of money laundering in connection with the credit, the Office of the Attorney General said on Friday. The target of the proceedings is not any specific person or entity, the office said.

Businesses centring on travel and hospitality have endured a nightmare start to 2020. With the global outbreak of coronavirus, and the international lock-down ushered in to slow its spread, every aspect of the leisure sector has been battered by Covid-19-related headwinds, Consultancy.uk reported. In the airline segment for example, 700 of Lufthansa’s fleet of 760 planes have been grounded amid the coronavirus lock-down, with the number of passengers falling by 99%.