Headlines

About 15 Ted Baker stores in the UK will be shut down, including shops in London Bridge and Milton Keynes, leading to nearly 250 job losses, joint administrators of the collapsed British fashion retailer said on Monday, Reuters reported. Ted Baker, a popular brand name in the UK, fell into administration last month, after more than a year of being sold to U.S.-based Authentic Brands Group. Authentic Brands is looking for a new operating partner for the retail and e-commerce business in the UK and across Europe.

Shimao Group shares fell sharply after a Chinese state-run bank, in a rare case, filed a liquidation petition against the heavily indebted developer in Hong Kong, adding uncertainty to a proposed restructuring of billions of dollars of offshore debt, the Wall Street Journal reported. Shares were 14% lower at 39 Hong Kong cents after Shimao said Monday that Construction Bank (Asia) Corp. filed a winding-up petition with a Hong Kong court on April 5 related to a financial obligation of around HK$1.58 billion (US$201.8 million).

The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) on Friday reserved its judgment in a plea filed by Bhavit Sheth, cofounder and COO of Dream11, challenging a bankruptcy court order initiating insolvency resolution against its parent Sporta Technologies, the Economic Times of India reported. The tribunal gave parties three days' time to file written submissions.

Some Canadians are feeling a little more optimistic about their debt with the prospect of interest rate cuts on the horizon, said MNP Ltd, the Toronto Star reported. The insolvency firm’s Consumer Debt Index metric showed a significant rebound in the first quarter of 2024 after 12 months of low scores, according to its latest report. More than a quarter of Canadians say that they perceive their current debt situation as better than a year ago. Fewer Canadian households than last quarter, at 41 per cent, say they are concerned about their current level of debt.

Jorge Paulo Lemann, the billionaire Brazilian dealmaker, said that together with his long-time partners, he’s trying to save retailer Americanas SA after a massive $5 billion fraud pushed it into bankruptcy protection, Bloomberg News reported. The trio of investors, that includes Marcel Telles and Carlos Sicupira, have owned Americanas since the early 1980s and their stake stood at about 30% when the scandal broke. Now, in the midst of a debt restructuring and recapitalization, they’ll own about half of the business.

The mortgage crisis will wipe out the savings of 1.2 million U.K. families this year and push many into insolvency, economists have warned, the Telegraph reported. Households having to remortgage face their bills rising by nearly 50pc, according to the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR). This will push the total number of families with no savings to 7.8 million, equivalent to 28pc of all households. The warning comes after the Bank of England on Thursday took analysts by surprise when it raised its base rate by 0.5 percentage points to 5pc.

Israel refrained from cutting interest rates on Monday, with the central bank focusing on heightening inflation expectations as the war in Gaza shakes the economy and defense spending surges, Bloomberg News reported. The Bank of Israel’s Monetary Policy Committee left its key rate at 4.5% for the second consecutive meeting. Only a narrow majority of analysts predicted the move, with the others expecting a cut of 25 basis points. The shekel extended its gains after the decision. It rose 2.4% to 3.68 per dollar as of 4:20 p.m. in Tel Aviv, heading for its best daily performance this year.

The Philippines central bank kept its policy rate unchanged as widely expected, extending its pause as a recent pickup in inflation resurfaces concerns about price pressures in the country, the Wall Street Journal reported. Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Gov. Eli Remolona said Monday that the central bank maintained its benchmark overnight reverse repurchase rate at 6.50%, deeming it appropriate to keep monetary policy settings tight. It held its benchmark lending rate at 7.00%.

German industrial production increased for a second month, underpinning hopes that Europe’s biggest economy may soon emerge from a shallow recession it probably witnessed in the last six months, Bloomberg News reported. The gauge increased 2.1% in February, led by construction, the statistics office said Monday. Despite this month’s increase, overall production is still well below pre-pandemic levels, an illustration of the challenges Germany’s important manufacturing sector had to endure since then — including a surge in energy costs following the war in Ukraine.

The venture capital arm of Italy's Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP) will invest 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) over the next five years in artificial intelligence (AI) and cybersecurity, the state lender said on Monday, Reuters reported. The government in March had announced its intention to set up an investment fund to promote projects in the AI sector, backed by CDP, as part of its broader push, as chair of the G7, to focus on the impact of AI on jobs and inequality.