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.

The U.K.’s annual rate of inflation jumped further above the Bank of England’s target in April as businesses raised their prices in response to higher payroll taxes and increased utility charges, an expected move that will nonetheless reinforce the central bank’s caution, the Wall Street Journal reported. Consumer prices rose 3.5% in April compared with a year earlier, the highest rate of inflation since January 2024 and up from the 2.6% of March this year, the U.K.’s Office for National Statistics said Wednesday.

Consumer confidence in the European Union and the euro area staged a modest rebound in May, according to the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs, EuroNews.com reported. The flash estimate released on Tuesday showed the consumer sentiment indicator rising by 1.4 percentage points in both regions, following sharp declines in April.

Ardagh Group’s debt restructuring talks to a group of bondholders has broken down amid a standoff over how much Paul Coulson, the packaging giant’s leading shareholder, will continue to own in its improving drink cans business, the Irish Times reported. The heavily-indebted business proposed in March that a group of senior unsecured bondholders write off much of the $2.32 billion (€2.05 billion) they are owed in exchange for taking full ownership of the glass containers part of the business.

Norwegian urban mobility brand Podbike filed for bankruptcy on Friday, citing financial hurdles including increasing production costs, supply chain disruptions, and a stagnant global economy, BicycleRetailer.com reported. According to a Podbike news release, efforts to obtain additional funding through investment rounds and partnerships failed to make up for the shortfall.