Europe

More than one in ten British pubs are at imminent risk of closure, with 11% of the UK’s pubs classed as technically insolvent and facing maximum credit risk, according to analysis by accountancy firm Price Bailey, Harpers.co.uk reported. Price Bailey reviewed the credit risk scores and balance sheets of all 37,961 pubs and bars across the UK. It found that 7,445 establishments (20% of the total) have negative net assets, meaning they are technically insolvent. Among these, 4,310 pubs are categorised as having a Maximum Risk score, up from 3,380 a year earlier.

U.K. grocery inflation ticked up slightly after August’s fall, according to the latest report from research firm Kantar, the Wall Street Journal reported. Annual grocery inflation increased to 2% for the four weeks to Sept. 29, up from 1.7% recorded in the month prior. The data comes ahead of the government’s Autumn budget and shows consumer spending remains tight. Spending on promoted items continued to rise, increasing by 7.4% in September as households sought to manage their finances. In comparison, full price sales rose by just 0.3%.

Insolvencies among retail businesses jumped in the third quarter as business advisory giant PwC warned of a fresh spike in both retail and hospitality insolvencies in early 2025 amid ongoing stresses in the two sectors, the Irish Times reported. The retail sector now accounts for one in four of all insolvencies so far this year, PwC’s quarterly insolvency barometer found, with 76 retail businesses becoming insolvent in the three months to the end of September on top of 43 in each of the first two quarters.

German manufacturing orders plunged more than expected in August, adding further gloom to the struggling sector that offers little sign of a recovery, the Wall Street Journal reported. Orders fell 5.8% on month in August, according to data published Monday by Germany’s statistics agency Destatis. That was weaker than economists’ expectations for a 2.0% drop, according to a Wall Street Journal poll, and contrasts with an upwardly revised 3.9% increase in July orders.

Commerzbank AG has accelerated strategic planning as it seeks to prepare for a potential takeover offer from rival UniCredit SpA, Bloomberg News reported. “Normally, we would not have started this until next year,” Chief Executive Officer Bettina Orlopp told German business daily Handelsblatt in an interview published Monday, referring to internal discussions about the lender’s strategy beyond 2027.

Swedish landlord SBB plans to sell as much as 4 billion Swedish kronor ($390 million) worth of stock in its residential unit in an effort to shore up its balance sheet, Bloomberg News reported. The company plans to offer a maximum of 88 million shares in Sveafastigheter AB in a contemplated initial public offering, with pricing estimated in the range of 39.5 kronor to 45.5 kronor each, according to a statement on Monday. That corresponds to 44% of the total number of shares in the residential unit, which is slightly less than its previous guidance.

Bidders for Sanofi’s consumer healthcare unit are revising their offers in part to address concerns around potential liabilities related to a brand that sold talcum powder, Bloomberg News reported. French pharmaceutical company Sanofi had asked suitors to revise their proposals for the Opella business, Bloomberg News reported earlier this week. The new bids may exclude parts of the Gold Bond business, a brand that historically sold talc-based products, or seek to leave any future legal risks with Sanofi.

Munich-based flying taxi startup Lilium is facing mounting liquidity issues, according to its half year report published this week, Sifted.eu reported. The company says that it “immediately requires additional capital to continue to finance its ongoing operations” and will be forced to cut costs, reduce operations or file for insolvency if it cannot raise fresh funding. The stark warning comes just months after Lilium raised $114m from investors in May.

Bank of England Chief Economist Huw Pill warned against cutting interest rates “too far or too fast” as he set out his case for a “gradual withdrawal” of restrictive monetary policy over the coming months, Bloomberg News reported. Pill, one of the more hawkish members of the Monetary Policy Committee who opposed the quarter-point rate point cut to 5% in August but voted to hold in September, said he is concerned that inflation could prove “more lasting” than expected.