UK manufacturers reported cutting jobs at the fastest pace since 2012 as they were “squeezed between a rock and hard place”, and reducing their stocks as new orders faltered, according to a closely watched industry survey, the Financial Times reported. The IHS Markit/CIPS Purchasing Managers’ Index for manufacturing slipped to 48.9 in November, down from 49.6 in October, but above the earlier flash estimate of 48.3.

Nissan’s new chief executive has shelved talks on levelling the ownership structure on its alliance with Renault, saying the two carmakers will focus on reviving their struggling businesses, the Financial Times reported.

A recent apology to Mario Draghi by Germany’s top central banker has highlighted a pressing concern in the eurozone’s largest economy about the European Central Bank: that criticism of its monetary policies is going too far and risks creating a domestic backlash, the Financial Times reported. Jens Weidmann, the Bundesbank president, said sorry to Mr Draghi after a broadside against the ECB’s stimulus package in September, which was delivered in an interview with Bild, Germany’s best-selling newspaper.

Schmolz + Bickenbach AG’s shareholders voted in favor of a capital increase to keep the company afloat after the two largest investors ended weeks of feuding over the proposal, Bloomberg News reported. Almost 80% of shareholders attending an extraordinary meeting near the Swiss city of Lucerne approved the share sale plan of at least 325 million Swiss francs ($326 million), removing a key hurdle towards rescuing the company from insolvency.

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte hit back at opponents inside and outside his government, denying that he violated lawmakers’ demands by striking a deal on reforms to the European Union’s bailout fund, Bloomberg News reported.

Peer-to-peer lender Zopa in on track to secure a £130m capital lifeline it needs to become a challenger bank days just before its conditional banking licence expires, the Financial Times reported. Britain’s oldest peer-to-peer lender is hoping to clinch the funding from an entity linked to IAG Capital Partners, a US-based fund, and its UK investment vehicle Silverstripe early next week, according to a person close to the matter. The deal, first reported by Sky News on Saturday, would close just before Zopa’s banking licence expires on Tuesday.

PizzaExpress Ltd. is something of a British national treasure having delivered quasi-Italian cuisine to the High Street for 54 years, a Bloomberg View reported. It’s found itself in a battle for survival in the U.K.’s uber-competitive “casual dining” arena, and has consequently been caught up in a proper tussle in the bond market. Commercially, the restaurant chain is battling on two fronts: that ferocious fight in its domestic market and coping with an unsuccessful expansion in China. Comparable sales outside of the U.K. fell 7.5% last year.

An investment holding company linked to Russian billionaire Viktor Vekselberg pledged to invest “as much money as necessary” in Schmolz + Bickenbach AG to avert a restructuring of the ailing Swiss steelmaker’s $800 million debt pile, Bloomberg News reported. Liwet Holding AG, which holds a 26.9% stake in Schmolz, said in a statement Sunday that the pledge is conditional on there being no change in control of the company.

German energy group Innogy on Thursday said it was continuing to lose clients in Britain, where a price cap has increased pressure on the ‘Big Six’ energy providers, Reuters reported. Npower, Innogy’s British retail unit, lost 261,000 customers during the third quarter, bringing total customer losses to 447,000 so far this year. The division posted a nine-month adjusted operating loss of 167 million euros ($184 million). Npower’s problems will soon be an issue for German utility E.ON.

Wrightbus, the Ballymena bus builder, owed Bank of Ireland £38.1 million (€44.7 million) on the day it collapsed, and administrators have warned that the bank will not be repaid “in full,” The Irish Times reported. However, Invest NI, the North’s regional business development agency, which was owed £2.5 million, will get back all of the money it lent the business, according to administrators from Deloitte.