Headlines

One of the UK oldest shoe stores, Clarks has been accused of abusing insolvency processes by launching an unviable restructuring plan, Yahoo! News reported. Landlords say that the 195-year-old shoe chain is not able to meet the conditions of the company voluntary arrangement (CVA) after the firm pays out dividends to family shareholders. It comes after, Clarks launched a CVA last week that will see most of its 320 UK stores moving to rents based on turnover — where rent is calculated on the amount of cash that goes through the tills.

A mission from the International Monetary Fund will visit Argentina from Nov. 10 to begin formal negotiations for a new financing program, an IMF spokesman said on Friday, Reuters reported. Dialogue between the mission and Argentina will focus on the government’s fiscal agenda in the medium term “with the aim of anchoring macroeconomic stability and laying the foundations for inclusive and sustainable growth,” the spokesman said in a statement, adding that there is no set date for negotiations to conclude.

PizzaExpress has appointed City grandee Allan Leighton as chairman as part of a recapitalisation that hands bondholders ownership of the restaurant chain in exchange for paying down £416m worth of debt, the Financial Times reported. Mr Leighton, a former boss of Asda and chairman of restaurant chain Wagamama, will be joined by David Campbell, previously chief executive of Wagamama.

Philippine authorities are probing the financial transactions of a law office and a tour operator for possible connections to Wirecard, the collapsed German payments firm, and its former chief operating officer Jan Marsalek, a government official said, the Financial Times reported.

Turkish Finance Minister Berat Albayrak said on Sunday he was resigning for health reasons, the second surprise departure of a top economic policymaker in two days after the central bank chief was ousted, Reuters reported. The upheaval follows a 30% slide in the lira to record lows this year amid the coronavirus pandemic as investors worried about falling forex reserves and the central bank’s ability to tackle double-digit inflation.

The housing market acts as the canary in a coal mine — prices tend to fall as a wider economic downturn looms, the Financial Times reported. But this year, with a deep global recession caused by the coronavirus pandemic, property valuations have kept on rising in many countries. House price growth has accelerated to an annual pace of almost 4 per cent among the OECD club of rich countries this year, with even faster rises in Europe and the US.

Walmart Inc, the world’s largest retailer, said on Friday it was selling its retail operations in Argentina to South American supermarket chain owner Grupo de Narváez, pulling back as the country grapples with an economic crisis, Reuters reported. The U.S. company did not disclose the size of the deal for retail operations involving more than 90 stores, but said it would record about a $1 billion after-tax, non-cash loss related to the divestiture in its fiscal third quarter next year.

When Britain’s oldest brewer closed the doors of its 15 City of London pubs after a last hurrah for drinkers on Wednesday night, most of the landlords had no idea when they would open again, the Financial Times reported. Several of these pubs will never emerge from the second national lockdown, according to Shepherd Neame boss, Jonathan Neame — victims of new restrictions that have again sent home thousands of workers who would normally be gearing up for the traditional pre-Christmas City drinks circuit.

A Philippines-based firm seeking to recapitalise the insolvent and in-receivership Australia-listed Asian casino operator Silver Heritage Group Ltd, is said to have obtained from Australia’s Foreign Investment Review Board, a “letter of no objection” to the Philippine firm acquiring – via a subsidiary – a 92-percent interest in the casino firm, GGRAsia reported. The news was given in a Wednesday filing to the Philippine Stock Exchange by DFNN Inc. The latter company is said to own 18.98 percent of HatchAsia Inc, the firm seeking to recapitalise Silver Heritage.

An imminent change to insolvency law and a predicted increase in COVID-19-related business failures could significantly impact the cost and availability of credit insurance, the specialist cover specifically designed to protect against bad debt, TheBusinessDesk.com reported. That’s the warning from RBIG Corporate Risk Services who point out that the December 1, return of ‘Crown Preference’ will push lenders and suppliers down the debt payment queue.