The world’s leading economies need to ease trade tensions and act decisively to prevent a descent into a low-growth trap from which it would be difficult to escape, the OECD warned on Thursday, the Financial Times reported. Labelling the economic outlook as “increasingly fragile and uncertain”, the Paris-based international organisation forecast that Britain would fall into recession if it left the EU without a deal and eurozone growth would slow to close to zero.

Air France-KLM and easyJet withdrew competing offers for Aigle Azur on Thursday after missing an overnight court deadline to improve their bids to acquire part of the collapsed budget airline’s operations and staff, Reuters reported. An Air France spokeswoman confirmed it had decided against submitting an expected joint offer with long-haul niche carrier Air Caraibes because “our conditions for doing so weren’t met”. EasyJet said it had also pulled out but remains committed to France and its operations at Paris Orly airport.

The French government is hoping for improved offers for insolvent airline Aigle Azur and that any offer from Air France will save as many Aigle Azur jobs as possible, junior transport minister Jean-Baptiste Djebbari said on Tuesday, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story. "I am hoping that the offers will be improved," Djebbari told FranceInfo radio. Privately held Aigle Azur was put under bankruptcy protection on Sept.

For years the German economy prospered as its companies benefited from growing global trade and freedom to export. France, with a much more domestically focused economy, was a laggard. But now the tables have been turned, the Financial Times reported. In an environment of increasing trade hostility, France’s strength in services and domestic consumption is proving a boon while German exports are suffering as a result of the country’s dependence on the Chinese market for cars and industrial equipment.

Air France-KLM shares fell sharply on Monday as it emerged as a bidder for bankrupt French-based budget carrier Aigle Azur, which left 19,000 passengers stranded when it abruptly halted operations, Reuters reported. The offer from the group’s Air France unit was among 14 bids submitted for privately-held Aigle Azur, which was placed was placed under bankruptcy protection on Sept. 2., ahead of a midday deadline, an official with the CFDT union told Reuters.

Peugeot automaker PSA Group and its Chinese partner Dongfeng Group have hammered out a plan to restructure their joint venture operations, slashing costs in the short term and aiming to boost annual sales to 400,000 vehicles by 2025, PSA said on Thursday, Reuters reported. Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen Automobiles (DPCA), the joint venture based in Wuhan, central China, plans to reduce the break-even point to below 180,000 vehicles in 2019 and further reduce to below 150,000 vehicles between 2020 and 2021, according to a post on PSA’s social media account in China.

La Perla, the indebted Italian lingerie brand owned by Lars Windhorst’s investment company, will list its shares on the Paris stock exchange to help access capital at a difficult time, Bloomberg News reported. La Perla, which has stores in London’s Sloane Street and St. Tropez, won’t raise any funds through the move, but the listing “will increase La Perla’s visibility and enhance access to capital," according to Chief Executive Officer Pascal Perrier. The company aims for a market capitalization of 473 million euros ($520 million) when shares are set to begin trading Friday in Paris.

French media mogul Arnaud Lagardère amassed more than €200m of debt at his private holding company, more than the current value of his shares in the publicly traded conglomerate that bears his name, according to unpublished accounts seen by the Financial Times.

Casino has outlined plans to sell an additional €2bn in assets as the French retailer looks to slice its debt and focus on key markets, the Financial Times reported. The announcement on Tuesday comes as part of a broad restructuring led by chief executive Jean-Charles Naouri to shore up the company’s financial position. It had already sold €2.1bn in non-core assets as part of a previously-announced €2.5bn programme, the company said.

Industrial production in France fell sharply in June, undermining hopes that the eurozone’s manufacturing sector might have seen the worst of this year’s slowdown, the Financial Times reported. Industrial production dropped by 2.3 per cent month-on-month according to French statistical body Insee. Manufacturing, the largest component of industrial output, fell 2.2 per cent in June from the previous month, and was down 0.3 per cent in the second quarter compared to the first, driven largely by a marked drop in the making of transport equipment.