Swedish electric-vehicle battery maker Northvolt said on Friday it expects to line up additional bankruptcy financing by late January after engaging with over 100 lenders and potential investors, Reuters reported. Northvolt entered bankruptcy on Nov. 21 with a $100-million bankruptcy loan from Swedish truck maker Scania, a shareholder and its biggest customer. But that loan was not intended to carry Northvolt through its entire bankruptcy restructuring, and the company has continued to evaluate proposals for additional financing from strategic and financial investors.

The U.K. economy stagnated in the previous quarter in a blow to the government’s hopes for growth, the Wall Street Journal reported. Gross domestic product flatlined between July and September, according to data set out Monday by the Office for National Statistics. The ONS had previously estimated growth of 0.1% over the third quarter. Growth in the preceding quarter was also a little lower than previously calculated, the agency said. “The economy was weaker in the second and third quarters of this year than our initial estimates suggested,” ONS statistics director Liz McKeown said.

Atos said that it completed its financial restructuring, resulting in a more sustainable capital structure and much-needed liquidity for the beleaguered group, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The French IT company on Thursday said that the implementation of the transactions in its safeguard plan reduced its gross debt by 2.1 billion euros ($2.17 billion). It now has 1.6 billion euros in new money debt and around 145 million euros of new money equity from a rights issue and an additional reserved capital increase.

British shoppers spent a little more as wages continue to grow, a boost to the government’s hopes of a consumption uptick at the end of the year, the Wall Street Journal reported. Total U.K. retail sales were 0.2% higher in November than in October, the Office for National Statistics said Friday. That reverses the previous month’s downturn, when consumers held off on spending ahead of the government’s budget at the end of the month, and warm, dry weather deterred buying of winter fashion.

The Bank of Russia held its key interest rate at a record-high 21%, surprising most analysts who’d expected policymakers to opt for another big hike to try to tame persistent inflation, Bloomberg News reported. Six of 12 economists had predicted a two percentage-point increase, while two foresaw a hike to 24% and only two saw a hold. Price growth continues to run at more than twice the central bank’s 4% target.

The collapse of Denmark’s Better Energy A/S, a once-hyped solar park developer, is sending repercussions through the Nordic country’s financial system and bringing eerie reminders of the recent problems for another green energy champion, Northvolt AB, in neighboring Sweden, Bloomberg News reported. Better Energy on Thursday said it will start a reconstruction process of two of its main units, blaming poor market conditions and an unwillingness from its investors to provide more funding.

German multinational machinery maker Manz announced from its Reutlingen headquarters on Wednesday that it is to apply for insolvency, DPAInternational reported. The company's executive board took the decision on account of inability to pay its bills and high debts. The application is to be made in the next few days. The company's lenders had decided not to come up with additional funding following intensive talks between the board and investors, it said. The board was continuing to talk to potential investors, it added.

The Bank of England kept its main interest rate unchanged at 4.75% on Thursday but policymakers became more divided about whether rate cuts were needed to tackle a slowing economy, Reuters reported. Three of the BoE's nine-person Monetary Policy Committee - Deputy Governor Dave Ramsden and external members Swati Dhingra and Alan Taylor - voted for a quarter-point rate cut to 4.5%. But BoE Governor Andrew Bailey said the central bank needed to stick to its existing "gradual approach" to cutting rates.

Sweden’s central bank lowered its key interest rate and signaled that borrowing costs could be lowered again next year to support the stuttering economy, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Riksbank cut its key interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point to 2.50% on Thursday. The move marks a return to more gradual monetary policy easing.

Norway’s central bank held its key policy rate at 4.5% as it pushes on with efforts to bring inflation down, but said it will likely begin monetary policy easing in March, the Wall Street Journal reported. The policy rate has been at 4.5% since December 2023 and has helped to significantly dampen inflation from its peak, but a rapid rise in business costs will likely restrain further disinflation, Norges Bank said.