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Gourmet Burger Kitchen (GBK) is reportedly drawing nearer to a controversial company voluntary arrangement (CVA) used to shut stores and renegotiate rents, in a battle that would likely pitch the beleaguered restaurant chain against its landlords, City A.M.
The world is still full of risks for the banking industry, despite reforms put in place since the financial crisis 10 years ago, Bloomberg News reported. That was the main subject of discussions this weekend in Bali, where bankers gathered for the annual meeting of the Institute of International Finance.
Patisserie Holdings Plc Chairman Luke Johnson proposed lending the troubled U.K. cake-shop owner 20 million pounds ($26.3 million) to stave off collapse amid a deepening accounting scandal, Bloomberg News reported. The owner of Patisserie Valerie expects to enter into a 10 million-pound loan agreement with Johnson, who also holds a 37 percent stake, it said in a statement Friday.
British clothing retailer Karen Millen has bought parts of the Coast fashion brand, which has gone into administration, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) said on Thursday, Reuters reported. Mike Denny, joint administrator and PwC director, said 24 Coast retail stores were not included in the sale to Karen Millen and would thus result in job cuts. PwC said Karen Millen has retained 600 jobs at Coast.
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The owner of Britain’s Patisserie Valerie café chain warned on Thursday that it is in danger of collapse if it cannot urgently raise capital after discovering a potential accounting fraud, Reuters reported. Patisserie Holdings said an investigation had found a “material shortfall” between the reported accounts of the London-listed company and its true financial health. “Without an immediate injection of capital, the directors are of the view that there is no scope for the business to continue trading in its current form,” it said in a statement.
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European Commission Vice President Jyrki Katainen urged Italy on Thursday to submit a draft budget in line with commitments and warned of risks for Italy and other euro zone states, Reuters reported. Italy’s eurosceptic government raised market concern when it announced two weeks ago a plan to raise its headline budget gap to 2.4 percent of gross domestic product in 2019 and flout fiscal targets agreed with euro zone peers. “The situation is very fragile,” Katainen told reporters when asked about Italy’s budgetary plans and initially negative market reaction.
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Italian banks face a 102 billion-euro headache, just when they’re least ready to deal with it, Bloomberg News reported. That’s how much they’ve lent to the country’s stumbling construction companies, according to data from the Bank of Italy. But with Astaldi SpA readying plans to restructure as much as 2.5 billion euros of debt, three of the top six Italian builders are now either insolvent or negotiating with creditors. The construction sector accounts for the highest default rates in Italy, the data show.
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It was good while it lasted for Europe’s construction companies. The state kept them in work with a steady supply of contracts, local banks provided the financing and profits rose. Then came the financial crisis and the longest recession of the postwar era leaving states unable to spend and banks unwilling to lend, Bloomberg News reported. Much of the once-thriving industry has been pushed to the brink.
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HNA, the troubled Chinese group, is in advanced talks with Canada’s Brookfield Asset Management to sell Swissport International, the air services company, according to people briefed about the matter. A deal would be the latest for the Chinese aviation-to-finance conglomerate, which has sold an estimated $18bn worth of assets this year as it is desperately trying to ratchet up funds to meet its domestic debts, the Financial Times reported.
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