Rumours over potential spikes to employer pension contributions in the upcoming Budget has thrown UK companies into a frenzy, with some admitting it could put them at risk of insolvency, CityAM.com reported. According to research from consultancy Barnett Waddingham, nearly 20 per cent of businesses fear they could become insolvent if an increase to employer pension contributions was mandated. Businesses have already been forced to shoulder additional cost burdens following decisions in Rachel Reeves’ maiden budget last year, with the national living wage increasing to £12.21 as of April 2025.

Fewer people than initially expected will be subject to Ireland’s new mandatory workplace pension, My Future Fund, it has emerged, amid of war of words between the Department of Social Protection and employer and pension groups, The Irish Times reported. The Government has consistently said that up to 800,000 people are likely to find themselves enrolled in the fund, which will deduct 1.5 per cent of their gross salary from their after-tax income from January – a figure that will rise to 6 per cent over the next decade.

The United States has been at the nexus of a data center boom, as OpenAI, Amazon, Google, Microsoft and others invest hundreds of billions to build the giant computing sites in the name of advancing artificial intelligence. But the companies have also exported the construction frenzy abroad, with less scrutiny, the New York Times reported. Nearly 60 percent of the 1,244 largest data centers in the world were outside the United States as of the end of June, according to an analysis by Synergy Research Group, which studies the industry.

Austrian former property billionaire Rene Benko has filed an appeal against his conviction last week for insolvency-related fraud and the two-year prison sentence it incurred, his lawyer said on Monday, Reuters reported. The case stemmed from a sweeping investigation into crimes prosecutors suspect were committed in connection with the collapse beginning in 2023 of Benko's real estate group Signa, Austria's biggest bankruptcy since World War II.

Pizza Hut is to close 68 restaurants and 11 delivery sites in the UK with the loss of 1,210 jobs, after the firm running them fell into administration, BBC.com reported. DC London Pie Limited, which operates Pizza Hut's UK restaurants, appointed FTI Consulting as administrators on Monday. However, Pizza Hut's global owner Yum! Brands has agreed to save 64 restaurants, preserving 1,276 jobs. Pizza Hut is well known for its family-friendly dining and salad bar, but its UK business has been struggling and had previously gone into administration less than a year ago.

Bank of Ireland could more than double the provision set aside to deal with the fallout from the UK motor finance commissions scandal, now estimating it could have to pay out about £350 million (€403 million), it said on Monday, the Irish Times reported. The bank had set aside just £143 million, although in recent weeks admitted it would have to hike the amount after regulators unveiled a planned industry-wide compensation scheme.

Vestas Wind Systems said that lower demand in Europe has pushed it to pause the planned construction of a new factory in Poland, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Danish wind turbine maker last year unveiled plans to build a new blade factory in Szczecin, near the Baltic Sea coast, to support Europe’s build-out of offshore wind parks. The plant was expected to build 15.5-meter blades for its flagship offshore turbine starting in 2026, employing more than 1,000 people.

The number of people going financially insolvent across England and Wales in September was 7% higher than a year earlier, according to Insolvency Service figures, PAMedia.com reported. Some 11,101 people entered insolvency in England and Wales, which was 3% lower than in August 2025 but 7% higher than in September 2024. This was made up of 622 bankruptcies, 3,985 debt relief orders (DROs) and 6,494 individual voluntary arrangements (IVAs).

Thousands of people in Britain are suing the health care giant Johnson & Johnson over claims that the company’s baby powder caused cancer, mirroring a long-running litigation battle in the United States over the talc-based product, the New York Times reported. More than 3,000 people have joined the lawsuit, which was filed in Britain’s High Court on Tuesday. The initial value of the claim is 1 billion pounds ($1.3 billion), said KP Law, which filed the case on behalf of the individuals. It is the first group claim against the company in Britain.

Electric aircraft startup Lilium may have ceased operations a year ago, but its insolvency filing wasn’t quite the end of the German-based company, TechCrunch.com reported. There were multiple failed attempts to restructure the company, including a last-ditch effort by Mobile Uplift Corporation, a company set up by investors from Europe and North America, to acquire the operating assets of the startup’s two subsidiaries. Ultimately, a bankruptcy administrator put the company’s assets through a competitive bid process.