Italy’s deficit breached the European Union’s ceiling last year in the biggest fiscal setback for Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government since she took office in 2022, Bloomberg News reported. The shortfall was 3.1% of gross domestic product, according to data published on Friday by the national statistics institute in Rome, confirming a preliminary estimate. Read more. (Subscription required.)

One of the largest Chinese-linked companies operating in Slovakia, Bluefin Century, has filed for bankruptcy, signaling a sudden exit from a market where it had generated tens of millions of euros in annual revenue, The Slovak Spectator reported. Founded in 2011 by Alica Cséfalvayová, Bluefin Century built a business importing and exporting mobile phones at scale, distributing brands such as Apple, Samsung and Xiaomi across more than 30 countries. Despite its global reach, the company maintained only a small operational base in Slovakia.

Keurig Dr Pepper has named Rafael Oliveira chief executive officer of its coffee operating unit ​as it moves to acquire Dutch coffee ‌and tea company JDE Peet's, Reuters reported. The all-cash $18 billion takeover of JDE Peet's by Keurig, announced in August last year, is ​aimed at helping the company compete with ​industry leader Nestle and tackle high commodity ⁠costs. The combined entity is expected to be ​split into two publicly traded U.S. companies — one for ​coffee operations and one for beverage businesses.

The field of suitors for British aerospace and ​defence supplier Senior Plc narrowed after private ‌equity firm Arcline Investment Management dropped out of buyout talks on Wednesday, though negotiations with other bidders remained ongoing, Reuters reported. Senior, ​whose shares are only marginally up ​as of 0815 GMT, declined to comment in ⁠response to a Reuters request. The firm is ​the latest in a list of U.K. ​companies that American PE firms are interested in taking over at a time when defence spending has significantly ​increased as geopolitical tensions flare up ​across the globe.

The chairman ‌of Spanish defence firm Indra, Angel Escribano, submitted his resignation on Wednesday, saying that staying on could "jeopardise the company’s stability" following a recent failed deal with his own company, Reuters reported. Indra said in a ​statement it had initiated the succession process, but did not give any further details. Indra ​shares went on a roller-coaster ride during the day after several news ⁠outlets reported Escribano was about to resign, but ended 3% higher.

The Bank of England said on Wednesday that the Iran war had dealt "a substantial negative supply shock" to the world economy, increasing the danger that pre-existing threats to financial stability materialize, Reuters reported. The ​BoE said the prospect of weaker growth and higher inflation and borrowing costs raised the chance of ‌risks crystallising simultaneously in government debt markets, private credit and the valuations of U.S. tech giants. "The conflict has made the global environment materially more unpredictable and followed a period in which global risks were already elevated.