Hundreds of German companies have appealed for more direct support from Brussels and a business-friendly stance from EU lawmakers as they grapple with the effects of Brexit, the US-China trade war and a global economic slowdown, the Financial Times reported. Responding to a poll by the Stiftung Familienunternehmen, or Foundation for Family Businesses, some of the country’s most successful companies said the new European Commission must do more to boost competitiveness. They placed emphasis on simplifying taxes, reducing bureaucracy and deeper digital integration.

UniCredit SpA has told European Central Bank officials that it may create a German holding company to control part of its business, according to people with knowledge of the matter, the Bloomberg News reported. The move could potentially reduce funding costs and help shield the Italian bank from any future crisis in its home country. The plan, which hasn’t been finalized, could be announced at the bank’s Dec. 3 investor day, according to people with knowledge of the matter who asked not to be identified because the matter is private.

Creditors to troubled casual-dining group PizzaExpress Ltd., which has around $1.4 billion of debts, expect to see much of their money returned and the brand survive, according to analyst Helen Rodriguez at CreditSights in London, Bloomberg News reported. “There’s a brand and a business for PizzaExpress, it just has the wrong balance sheet and needs to reduce its debt,” she said. “If it were to restructure, someone would certainly want to start again with the business.” That will come as a relief to many in the U.K., for whom the chain is something of a national icon.

A London court order for Ukraine’s largest lender PrivatBank to repay two of its defaulted bonds in full plus interest is a boost for their holders, but looks set to add to Kiev’s complex tussle with the bank’s former owner, oligarch Igor Kolomoisky, Reuters reported. The ruling by the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) was originally made in June but the exact details have only just emerged after the bonds’ trustee got approval to communicate them to investors.

Greek jewelry maker Folli Follie’s Links of London appointed Deloitte as an administrator on Wednesday, putting about 350 jobs at risk and adding to the list of high-profile retailers to run into trouble on Britain’s high street, Reuters reported. Links of London was founded in 1990, offering unisex jewelry and lifestyle accessories, with luxury products designed after London’s art, music, and film scenes at the time. Links of London said on its website it was unable to process any online sales, but directed people to its stores.

The High Court this week ruled a vulture fund could not enforce a repossession order, pending insolvency proceedings, The Sun reported. Ex-model Flood and restaurateur hubby Ronan Ryan have been locked in a long legal battle to keep the €900,000 house in Clontarf, Dublin. But after facing down the eviction threat, Pamela last night told the Irish Sun of her relief at keeping the family pad. The 48-year-old mum-of-four beamed: “It’s much better news than before. We’re better, it’s a lot better than it was.

Boris Johnson can seize on Germany’s impending recession to make the most life outside the European Union, a senior financial advisor has said, the Daily Express reported. And Nigel Green, founder and CEO of deVere Group, which claims to be the world’s largest independent financial advisory organisation, also said the UK leaving the EU without a deal could also send the Eurozone into a tailspin.

In a related story, Reuters reported that talks with potential strategic and private equity investors to rescue Thomas Cook’s German tour business going well and many investors have expressed interest in the company as a whole or in its branches, the insolvent company’s liquidator said. “The investor talks are in full swing, running well and giving hope,” Julia Kappel-Gnirs, a liquidator of Thomas Cook Germany’s Bucher Reisen and Oeger Tours units, said in a statement on Wednesday. The travel firm on Wednesday said it was cancelling all travel operations until Dec.

Hays Travel will buy all Thomas Cook's British travel agent shops, potentially saving up to 2,500 jobs, Britain's insolvency agency said on Wednesday, in a rare reprieve for high streets across the country, Business Insider reported. Thomas Cook, the world's oldest travel company whose shops have been a feature of British town centers for generations, collapsed last month, and its UK business went into liquidation. Hays Travel will acquire all 555 stores and look to re-employ former employees from Thomas Cook's retail operations, Britain's Insolvency Service said in a statement.

German industrial production rose 0.3 per cent in August, surpassing economists’ forecasts and providing a glimmer of hope that the sharp contraction in the engine room of the eurozone’s biggest economy may be less severe than feared, the Financial Times reported. Excluding the typically volatile energy and construction sectors, production increased by a healthy 0.7 per cent from the previous month, as an increase in intermediate and capital goods more than offset a decline in consumer goods.