Administrators for Belfast’s Harland and Wolff shipyard are expected to file for insolvency this afternoon. Accountancy firm BDO was appointed to the firm yesterday evening and is expected to file the papers at Belfast High Court, Newstalk reported. The iconic site ceased trading yesterday after its Norwegian parent company failed to find a buyer. Its 123 staff have been handed redundancy notices – however, workers are refusing to leave the site and are demanding UK Government action to save the historic business.

The growth in consumer lending has alarmed some economic policy officials, who note that a growing number of Russians are using a quick swipe of plastic or relying on payday lenders to cope with hard times brought on by Western sanctions and slumping prices for oil, one of the country’s major export commodities, the International New York Times reported. The spending has lifted the economy but with ballooning consumer debt that could help start a recession.

Sports Direct has won the bidding war for Jack Wills, adding yet another brand to Mike Ashley’s high street empire, The Irish Times reported. Advisers at KPMG said Jack Wills had been put into administration on Monday and was immediately sold to Sports Direct in a process known as a pre-pack administration. The retailer has a small number of stores in the Republic, including on Grafton Street, at the Dundrum Town Centre and at Kildare Village.

Sentix’s economic index of investor confidence fell by 7.9 points to minus 13.7 in August, significantly below the minus 7.7 analysts had predicted, City A.M. reported. Investors’ views of economic expectations fell to minus 20, the lowest score since August 2012, from minus 13 in July. Sentix noted that the last time investors’ expectations were so low, European Central Bank (ECB) president Mario Draghi felt compelled to say he would do “whatever it takes” to bolster the Eurozone.

The pace of German expansion slowed more in July than earlier estimates had suggested while businesses’ optimism for future production fell to its lowest in more than four and a half years, a leading indicator’s final figures showed, escalating fears that the eurozone’s biggest economy faces recession in coming months, the Financial Times reported. IHS Markit’s final services reading recorded 54.5, well below a preliminary estimate of 55.4. This was also lower than June’s nine-month high of 55.8, IHS Markit data revealed on Monday. A figure above 50 still indicates growth.

Harland and Wolff, the Belfast shipyard that built the Titanic, was put into administration on Monday after its bankrupt Norwegian owner failed to find a buyer and calls for its nationalization were rebuffed, Reuters reported. The shipyard, whose towering yellow cranes dominate the Northern Irish city’s skyline, has been occupied by workers fearful for their jobs since last week. They said on Monday they would block administrators from entering the site. “BDO have been appointed as administrators and the company will file for insolvency tomorrow,” a Harland and Wolff spokesman said.

The cloistered quads and frescoes of the palazzo of San Salvador near the Rialto bridge in Venice have long been the property of the Italian state — but they will soon have a new owner, the Financial Times reported. In an attempt to chip away at €2.3tn in public debt the former monastery, founded in the 12th century on the orders of Pope Alexander III, is up for sale. Rome is cashing in on its valuable portfolio of state-owned assets by holding a fire sale of historic properties, from disused army barracks to forts, monasteries and lighthouses.

Almost one in six English businesses has been summoned to appear before magistrates for non-payment of business rates in the past year, prompting fresh concerns about the controversial levy, the Financial Times reported. According to business rates consultancy Altus, local authority replies to freedom of information requests suggest that 171,018 summons were issued in the year to March 31, equivalent to just under 10 per cent of all business premises in England.

A German group is interested in buying British Steel’s French factory, according to people aware of the situation, even as efforts drag on to prevent a break-up of the stricken company, the Financial Times reported. British Steel collapsed into insolvency more than two months ago after the government rejected its plea for a bailout, throwing into doubt the future of one of the country’s largest manufacturers.

The number of distressed companies in Europe, the Middle East and Africa rose in the first half for the first time in more than two years, according to a report by Moody’s Investors Service, Bloomberg News reported. Moody’s list of distressed companies rose to 47 from 39 in the first half of the year, according to the report published on Thursday. It’s the first time the list increased since the end of 2016.