The number of British restaurant insolvencies hit a record high in 2018 and have doubled since 2010, a study by accountants Price Bailey showed on Wednesday as the sector struggles with market saturation and competition from delivery apps, Reuters reported. There were 1,442 restaurant insolvencies in 2018, up 40 percent compared to 2017, Insolvency Service data obtained by Price Bailey showed. Four restaurant businesses a day are going bust, up from under two a day in 2010.
Resources Per Country
- Albania
- Austria
- Belarus
- Belgium
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Bulgaria
- Croatia
- Czech Republic
- Denmark
- Estonia
- Finland
- France
- Germany
- Gibraltar
- Greece
- Guernsey
- Hungary
- Iceland
- Ireland
- Isle of Man
- Italy
- Jersey
- Kosovo
- Latvia
- Liechtenstein
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Macedonia
- Malta
- Moldova
- Monaco
- Montenegro
- Netherlands
- Norway
- Poland
- Portugal
- Romania
- Russia
- San Marino
- Serbia
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- Spain
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Ukraine
- United Kingdom
- Vatican City
Kosovo will offer its loss-making state-owned telecom company to private investors by the end of the year, the country’s economy minister said on Wednesday, its third attempt to sell a stake in the company in the past decade, Reuters reported. In 2013 the government cancelled an already agreed sale to Germany’s ACP Axos Capital Gmbh and U.S.-based investor Najafi after failing to secure parliament backing for the 277 million euro deal.
Eurozone business sentiment fell in January to the lowest level in two years amid a decline in executives’ view of current conditions and their outlook for the future, the Financial Times reported. A European Commission gauge of business climate across the bloc fell 0.17 points to 0.69 in January from the previous month. This was worse than the reading of 0.75 forecast by economists in a Reuters poll. “Managers’ assessment of the past production worsened significantly.
A consortium building Turkey’s Gebze-Orhangazi-Izmir motorway has started seeking international advisers to value the project ahead of a possible stake sale, Otoyol Investment company said on Tuesday, Reuters reported. In a first stage, the consortium will determine the value of the project and potential buyers, the consortium, which includes Italian construction group Astaldi, said in a statement. “It is a lengthy process to sell a stake in a project of this scale,” the consortium said, adding it would be up to the partners to decide whether to dispose of their share.
U.K. consumer confidence continued to decline in January due to Brexit uncertainty, sinking to the lowest since May 2013, YouGov said Tuesday. The polling company’s index of optimism dropped by 0.1 points to 104.3, well below where it was before Britain voted to leave the European Union in 2016, Bloomberg News reported. Expectations for job security slumped and predictions of business activity fell to the lowest since records began in 2011.
The number of Britons falling into insolvency soared in late 2018, according to official data that will likely add to unease over the health of Britain’s consumer-led economy ahead of Brexit, Reuters reported. There were 34,108 individual insolvencies in England and Wales during the fourth quarter, the most since the second quarter of 2010 and up 35 percent on a year ago, the government’s Insolvency Service said on Tuesday. The increase was driven by a record number of Individual Voluntary Arrangements — agreements to repay creditors that are short of declaring bankruptcy.
More than 11,600 borrowers received advice and support from Abhaile, the State’s mortgage arrears and debt resolution service over a two-year period, according to a recent report, The Irish Times reported. The Department of Justice and Equality, and the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection, who co-ordinate the scheme, published annual reports reviewing the take up and outcomes of Abhaile between July 2016 and June 2018.
Greece announced plans to return to bond markets and increase the minimum wage Monday, amid protests against bailout-era measures by farmers who used tractors to block the country's main highway. Authorities unveiled plans to issue a 5-year bond, a first market test since the end of Greece's international bailout in August. In a televised address, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said the minimum wage would be increased by nearly 10 percent starting next month — from 586 euros per month to 650 euros, the International New York Times reported on an Associated Press story.
Investors are calling on ratings agencies to downgrade leveraged loans with overly aggressive documentation, as weak lender protection continues to cause concern, Reuters reported. Moody’s European covenant quality indicator hit a record low in the fourth quarter of 3.83, which is the lowest figure since the ratings agency established the monitor in 2012. The statistic focuses on high-yield bonds but analysts say loans are in a similar state. Covenant-lite loans, which offer little protection for lenders, have become established as the market norm.
Business confidence among Germany’s exporters has taken a dive in the past year as any “ray of hope” even a month ago in the carmaking industry has been dashed, figures from an influential research house showed. Export expectations in manufacturing fell to 5.9 points in January, from 19.9 a year ago, the Financial Times reported. The index has more than halved in the past two months, the Ifo Institute’s survey revealed on Monday. In November expectations were at 12.2. “The new year is marked by worries among German manufacturers,” said the report.