Scottish company insolvencies have declined by 16% since last year, but experts say overall volumes will remain high for some time to come, Scottish Financial News reported. There were a total of 73 company insolvencies registered in Scotland in September 2024, comprised of 48 CVLs, 18 compulsory liquidations and seven administrations. There were no CVAs or receivership appointments. Historically, compulsory liquidations were the most common type of company insolvency in Scotland. However, since April 2020, numbers of CVLs have remained higher than numbers of compulsory liquidations.

Northvolt AB is closing in on an about $300 million rescue package that includes debt and equity, buying time for the cash-strapped Swedish battery maker to stabilize production and line up longer-term financing, Bloomberg News reported. A combination of shareholders, lenders and customers are participating in the bridge funding, and the instruments vary among these groups. Discussions are in the final stages, though there remains some risk they can still fall apart.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves is considering raising taxes levied on entrepreneurs when they sell their businesses, as part of her push to raise as much as £40 billion ($52 billion) to balance Britain’s budget, Bloomberg News reported. Britain’s finance minister is looking at cutting a capital gains tax easement known as business asset disposal relief in her spending plan on Oct. 30. The policy allows entrepreneurs to pay a reduced tax of 10% on profits they make from the sale of their companies, rather than the standard 20% levy for higher-rate taxpayers.

The Italian electric motorcycle maker Energica has officially declared that it is ceasing operations and entering bankruptcy proceedings, ending speculation about the company’s precarious financial situation, Electrek.co reported. After reducing its workforce by around 70% recently, among other measures to tighten its purse strings, the famed Italian electric motorcycle maker’s board made the decision to enter bankruptcy proceedings after its latest meeting this week.

The European Central Bank cut interest rates on Thursday for the third time in about four months, as inflation in the eurozone has cooled faster than expected and economic growth has been sluggish, the New York Times reported. Policymakers who set interest rates for the 20 countries that use the euro lowered their key rate by a quarter point, to 3.25 percent.

Germany’s ruling coalition will repeal a tax rule that limits the use of derivatives losses to offset profits on investments, according to a government member, Bloomberg News reported. “The restriction on offsetting gains with losses from derivatives and total wipe-outs is finally going to end,” Katja Hessel, a deputy finance minister, said in a post on X. The regulation was introduced by the previous German government in 2020. It restricts investors’ ability to use losses in some instruments to lower their tax bills on gains in other investments, a practice known as netting, in two ways.

Like wine-growing heartlands everywhere from Bordeaux to Napa Valley, Lombardy’s Oltrepò Pavese region is grappling with two historic challenges: a changing climate and changing tastes. It’s been incredibly rainy in northern Italy this year. Fungi took hold of some vines, and had to be dealt with hastily, Bloomberg News reported. At the same time, great viniculture nations like Italy are having to adapt to the waning popularity of red wine, as younger drinkers opt for trendy craft beers and fizzy whites — or swear off alcohol entirely.

Troubled Swedish battery maker Northvolt AB has laid off nearly 400 white-collar workers at its center of operations in Skelleftea as part of concluded negotiations with two of the Swedish trade unions, Bloomberg News reported. The redundancies form part of a previously announced measure to cut 1,000 jobs at the Northvolt Ett plant in northern Sweden. The maker of electric vehicle batteries is racing to preserve cash while it negotiates a new financing pact with investors.

Argentina lost a bid at the U.K. Supreme Court to hear its appeal on a ruling that would force the South American nation to pay $1.5 billion in damages to holders of the country’s growth-linked bonds, Bloomberg News reported. In an order signed Monday, the U.K.’s top court refused to hear an appeal over payments to hedge funds including Palladian Partners LP. The holders of those notes argued the losses were a result of a change by a previous Argentine government in how it calculated gross domestic product.