The TotalEnergies West of Shetland offshore assets it agreed to sell to Prax Group last year remain under the French oil major's ownership, it said on Wednesday, so will not be subject to disposals resulting from liquidation proceedings affecting the British company, Reuters reported. "The transaction to sell our West of Shetland asset to Prax has not yet completed and as such we remain the operator of the Shetland Gas Plant and related fields," TotalEnergies EP UK said in its statement.

A council has defended its financial management after a report warned it is ‘bordering on insolvency’. The recent internal audit found Thetford Town Council has ‘excessively low balances’ and urged it to reassess its investments, the Suffolk News reported. The council has been criticised for several months over the handling of its finances after it voted to declare a ‘climate emergency’ and commit £30,000 of its funds to combat the issue. However, councillors have dismissed the warnings of the auditor as ‘isolated items’ and maintain the authority is ‘well run’.

French uranium miner Orano said on Wednesday its majority-owned joint venture with Niger, SOMAIR, is on the verge of bankruptcy as a result of export restrictions imposed by Niger's military government, Reuters reported. Orano was forced to suspend production at SOMAIR after authorities halted exports last year.

The insolvent Austrian lingerie manufacturer Palmers Textil AG is being taken over by the Danish company Change of Scandinavia, DPA International reported. The investor's entry secures the continuation of Palmers, a spokesman for the company announced on Monday. The long-established Austrian company declared itself insolvent in February. Change of Scandinavia primarily produces and sells women's underwear under the Change Lingerie fashion brand. Creditors can now expect to receive a total of 20% of their claims in four payments within two years, according to the statement.

The eurozone’s unemployment rate inched higher in May, a sign of jitters among European firms amid economic uncertainty over tariffs and geopolitical tensions, the Wall Street Journal reported. Unemployment rose to 6.3% in the 20-nation currency area, up from 6.2% in April, the European Union’s statistics agency Eurostat said Wednesday. Despite the uptick, the jobless rate is near historically tight levels. April’s level equaled the eurozone’s record-low rate, although it came after March’s level had been revised higher to 6.4%.

Italy risks losing 20 billion euros ($23.6 billion) in exports and 118,000 jobs next year if the U.S. imposes tariffs of 10% on all European products, the head of the main Italian business lobby said on Wednesday, Reuters reported. "Italy does not just export luxury products - with a demand that isn't very sensitive to prices - but mainly machinery, means of transport, and leather goods," Confindustria President Emanuele Orsini told daily Il Corriere della Sera in an interview.

U.K. borrowing costs have surged and the pound has plunged amid speculation over the Chancellor’s future, The Telegraph reported. UK gilt yields rocketed higher on bond markets as Sir Keir Starmer initially failed to repeat a guarantee that Rachel Reeves would remain in her role for the whole of Labour’s first term in power. The yield on 10-year gilts – the return the Government promises to buyers of its debt – shot up by as much as 18 basis points, rising above 4.6pc after Ms Reeves was seen crying in the Commons during Prime Minister’s Questions.

Spanish Banco Santander S.A., the biggest lender in continental Europe by market capitalisation, is buying Scotland-based commercial bank TSB for £2.65 billion (€3.08bn). This is a major step to bolster the Spanish lender’s future in the UK, as it has been struggling to keep its UK arm afloat, EuroNews reported. The acquisition of TSB Bank means 5 million customers will be transferred to Santander, who will keep a total of £35bn (€40.1bn) in their deposits.

Shares of Argo Blockchain plunged more than 60% on Monday after the Bitcoin mining company unveiled a court-supervised restructuring plan in a last-ditch effort to avoid bankruptcy, TheMinerMag.com reported. The London- and Nasdaq-listed miner said it has entered into an agreement with Growler Mining and will seek approval from a U.K. court to implement the proposed plan. If approved, the deal would eliminate existing shareholders and transfer majority ownership to Growler Mining, a mining firm based in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.