Wages in the eurozone rose at a much slower pace during the three months through March even as the unemployment rate remained at a record low, opening the way for further cuts to borrowing costs by the European Central Bank, the Wall Street Journal reported. The ECB on Friday said that wages set through negotiations between employers and labor unions or similar bodies were 2.38% higher in the first quarter of 2025 than a year earlier, a slowdown from the 4.12% increase recorded in the three months through December. That slowdown was sharper than expected.

U.K. retail sales jumped higher than expected last month, a result of warmer weather that helped food stores bounce back, the Wall Street Journal reported. Retail sales volumes climbed 1.2% on month in April after a 0.1% rise in March, the Office for National Statistics said Friday. It was a fourth-straight monthly increase, the first time that has happened since mid-2020 after businesses reopened following the first Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns.

The German economy, Europe's biggest, grew by 0.4% in the first quarter thanks to stronger-than-expected exports and manufacturing, official data showed Friday, the Associated Press reported. The Federal Statistical Office had reported at the end of last month that the economy expanded by 0.2% in the January-March period compared with the previous quarter. The head of the office, Ruth Brandt, said that “the surprisingly good economic development seen in March” led to the revision.

The number of company insolvencies registered in Scotland saw a modest decrease in April 2025, falling by 7% compared to the same month in the previous year, with 101 cases recorded, ScottishFinancialNews.com reported. This total comprised 47 creditors’ voluntary liquidations (CVLs), 51 compulsory liquidations, and three administrations. There were no company voluntary arrangements (CVAs) or receivership appointments. Looking at the broader picture, the company insolvency rate in Scotland for the 12 months ending April 2025 stood at 51.2 per 10,000 active companies.

Newly released figures show 377 firms in the construction industry collapsed in England and Wales in March – a figure that has increased 2.5 per cent from a revised 368 in February, and a sharp 23 per cent increase from January’s 306, ConstructionWave.co.uk reported. The latest data from the Insolvency Service shows insolvencies within the sector fluctuated over the year, with its highest of 403 in the previous 12 months in April 2024. Of the 377 construction firms that went under in March, more than half (54 per cent) came from specialist subcontractors, with 203 companies folding.

A South Yorkshire steel company has avoided insolvency for the moment after a potential buyer was found, the U.K. High Court has heard, BBC.com reported. Speciality Steel UK (SSUK), part of the Liberty Steel Group founded by Sanjeev Gupta, employs 1,450 people and has plants in Rotherham and Sheffield. Lawyers representing SSUK said at a hearing on Wednesday that "urgent meetings" had been taking place with a "third party purchaser".

Embattled motorcycle maker KTM once again dodged financial ruin, just days ahead of a make-or-break deadline in its court-ordered restructuring, ADVPulse.com reported. The company needed €600 million in emergency funding to meet a court-mandated requirement to repay 30% of what it owes creditors who had filed more than €2 billion in claims. The payout is a key condition of KTM’s ongoing recovery plan — and for a while, it didn’t appear that loan would materialize.

Builder.ai, one of the UK’s best-funded technology start-ups, is entering insolvency proceedings, weeks after restating its revenues and admitting “problems” under its past leadership, the Financial Times reported. The London-based group, which is backed by Microsoft, informed employees it was filing for bankruptcy during a company-wide call on Tuesday. The company confirmed that its main unit, Engineer.ai Corporation, “will be entering into insolvency proceedings and will appoint an administrator to manage the company’s affairs”.

Asda is planning to sell about 20 supermarket stores for £400m to generate more cash for the business, The Telegraph reported. The supermarket chain is looking to offload the stores, which are located across the country, and lease them back for around 20 years. It has appointed property adviser Eastdil Secured to seek out buyers, according to property-focused publication Green Street News. Sale-and-leaseback deals are popular among major supermarkets as a means of raising capital to shore up their balance sheets.