U.K. Shop Prices Might Have Reached End of Falling Inflation Period, Report Says

Annual U.K. shop-price deflation lost steam in November, driven by higher fresh-food prices on increased winter-related costs, while retailers’ additional costs next year suggest the end of falling inflation, a report said, the Wall Street Journal reported. Prices at U.K. stores decreased 0.6% on year in November, up from deflation of 0.8% recorded in the previous month, the report by NielsenIQ and the British Retail Consortium showed Tuesday. This is the first time in 17 consecutive months that inflation was higher than the previous month.
United Kingdom
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Advent Revives €1 Billion Sale of Medical Supplier Mediq

Advent International is considering reviving the sale of Dutch medical supplier Mediq as the private equity firm looks to cash out from the business, Bloomberg News reported. The US buyout firm is speaking to potential advisers and could seek a valuation of about €1 billion ($1.1 billion) for Utrecht-based Mediq, the people said. An auction process could be launched in the first half of next year, the people said, asking not to be identified as the information is private. Deliberations are preliminary and Advent could still opt to keep the asset for longer, the people said.
Netherlands
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Northvolt Collapse Countdown Started With BMW Pullback

For Northvolt AB, the Swedish startup that became a poster child for Europe’s electric-driving future, the route to collapse started in June when BMW AG canceled a multi-billion-dollar order, Bloomberg News reported. Back then, few saw the significance of the move, which effectively started a countdown that would culminate in a Chapter 11 filing less than six months later. Northvolt scrambled to keep the financing flowing, but as Germany’s car industry fell deeper into its own crisis, it became clear orders would dry up.
Sweden
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France Offers Atos Up to €625 Million for Strategic Assets

The French government offered to buy Atos SE’s advanced computing assets for as much as €625 million ($653 million) after an earlier offer from the state expired, Bloomberg News reported. The non-binding bid gives the business an enterprise value of €500 million and may include additional payments based on future earnings, the company said in a statement on Monday. The offer, which expires in May, includes Atos’s artificial intelligence business as well as its supercomputers, which are used by researchers, the nuclear power industry and the military.
France
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Sports Goods Manufacturer Le Coq Sportif Placed Under Bankruptcy Administration

The sports equipment manufacturer Le Coq Sportif has been placed under judicial restructuring proceedings by the Paris Commercial Court, FashionUnited.uk reported. "Le Coq Sportif is relying on this procedure to respond to the challenges facing the brand while protecting its 330 employees and hundreds of indirect jobs," parent company Airesis said on Friday. The troubled company said in October that it was looking for "financing solutions".
France
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German Businesses Grow More Pessimistic as Geopolitical Pressures Mount

Business confidence in Germany slipped this month, amid mounting pressures on the country’s industrial base, alongside concerns raised by the fracture of its governing coalition and the threat of U.S. trade tariffs, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Ifo Institute said Monday that its business-climate index fell to 85.7 in November from 86.5 last month, the fifth fall in six months. The reading also lagged economists’ expectations of 86.1, from a poll compiled by The Wall Street Journal.
Germany
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