Investors hit by the collapse of Lendy have expressed concerns about the spiralling costs of the administration process after insolvency practitioners warned that they could run up a bill of £2.5 million, The Times reported. Lendy, the peer-to-peer lending service, failed last May owning nearly £152 million to 9,000 investors, some of who now fear that the costs of managing the insolvency will reduce any money they get back. RSM Restructuring recorded time costs worth £1.7 million for the first six months of Lendy’s administration.

British Steel plunged into insolvency 225 days ago. Since then, taxpayers have funded its operational losses of an estimated £1m a day, The Guardian reported. It doesn’t take a mathematician to see that this can only go on for so long; a deal securing the future of the company’s 4,500 staff needs to be agreed – and fast. Chinese steelmaker Jingye has been in pole position since November’s announcement that a deal had been agreed in principle.

French marine services group Bourbon Corporation, which has been in the process of a debt restructuring, said its assets would be taken over by its creditors, Riviera Maritime Media reported. The news comes in light of Bourbon’s ongoing legal proceedings. The Commercial Court of Marseille ruled that Bourbon’s assets be transferred to Société Phocéenne de Participations (SPP) on 2 January 2020.

Factories across the euro zone ended 2019 in poor shape with activity contracting for an 11th straight month, according to a survey which suggested the start of the new year is unlikely to see any improvement, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story. IHS Markit's final manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) has been below the 50 mark separating growth from contraction since February, and at 46.3 in December it was below November's 46.9 but higher than a preliminary estimate of 45.9.

UK manufacturing activity “took a turn for the worse” at the end of 2019, with the sharpest deterioration in output in more than seven years as political uncertainty continued to weigh on orders, according to a closely watched survey, the Financial Times reported.

Britain's cap on domestic energy prices saved customers around 1 billion pounds in 2019, but shopping around is still the best way to save money, the government said on Tuesday. The cap on default electricity and gas bills came into effect in January this year and was a flagship policy of former British Prime Minister Theresa May to end what she called "rip-off" prices, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story.

Does mere survival count as an achievement? It rather depends on whether your continued existence is in doubt or taken for granted. By that standard, the 2010s were a greater success for Europe’s monetary union than the preceding decade. And that has implications for what to expect for the euro in 2020, the Financial Times reported in a commentary. The eurozone sovereign debt crisis caused an enormous shift in European politics. Leaders were forced not just to patch together emergency institutional reforms, but also to accept that further ones were required.

Taoiseach Leo Vardakar has made it clear the Football Association of Ireland will not be handed a blank cheque to pay for its "mistakes of the past,” the Irish Post reported. The crisis-hit organisation had requested an €18m bail-out earlier this month to stave of the threat of insolvency. Minister for Sport Shane Ross said at the time the FAI – who face debts of up to €62 million euro – will not receive state funding. And the Taoiseach confirmed that is the approach his government still intend to take.

A business which installed hundreds of BT-branded WiFi kiosks across the UK has collapsed into administration after encountering delays in obtaining planning permission, The Telegraph reported. InLink entered administration in November after its attempt to build a network of thousands of smart kiosks on roads across the UK faced opposition from local councils as well as the Metropolitan Police. The business was a joint venture between Intersection, an American advertising business which has been backed by Google’s parent company, and outdoor media company Primesight.

A Russian court in the city of Tyumen has declared the bankruptcy of Russia’s Antipinsky refinery, Interfax news agency reported on Monday, Reuters reported. The refinery, which has a capacity of 9 million tonnes per year, filed for bankruptcy in May after halting operations on several occasions due to a lack of funds to pay for crude oil deliveries. Read more