Headlines

Britain had an 8 billion-pound ($13.2 billion) budget deficit in July, the largest for the month since records began in 1993, as the recession ravaged tax revenue and the cost of unemployment benefits surged, Bloomberg reported. The shortfall compared with a surplus of 5.2 billion pounds a year earlier, the Office for National Statistics said in London today. It came in a month when the Treasury usually gets a boost from quarterly tax payments. Britain last had a deficit in July in 1996. The U.K.

The administrator of car parts maker Trident Plastics says redundancies may be needed to save the company, ABC News reported. Trident creditors will vote today on a deal which would hand the company back to its directors, with some return for creditors. The Adelaide company employs more than 100 people and went into voluntary administration in June. Administrator John Morgan says a restructuring of the business may be needed and creditors have responded well to the proposed deal. Read more.

Several bidders threw their hats in the ring for the business of troubled eftpos company ProvencoCadmus including a group led by existing shareholder Peter Maire, The New Zealand Herald reported. But yesterday rival eftpos provider SmartPay announced it had purchased the Australian and New Zealand payments operations of ProvencoCadmus for an undisclosed sum. ProvencoCadmus was placed in receivership on August 3 owing $45 million to its bankers and capital note holders.

Troubled Swedish carmaker Saab's six-month period of bankruptcy protection ended Thursday as the group decided not to ask a court for an extension, Monsters and Critics reported. The Saab Automobile group in February filed for protection from its creditors after its US-owner General Motors announced it would cut its ties with the Swedish carmaker by the end of 2009. Saab said it had been able to write off debt worth some 8.3 billion kronor ($1.1 billion).

Escada AG, the German maker of women’s luxury clothes, said Chief Executive Officer Bruno Saelzer sold shares after the company filed for insolvency. Saelzer, who joined Escada last year, sold stock this week, according to Escada statements on the OTS newswire today. He sold 48,000 shares Aug. 17 for 75 cents ($1.07) each and 77,882 shares yesterday for 82 cents each. Jessica Saelzer, the CEO’s wife, sold 142,000 shares yesterday for 81 cents apiece and another 18,000 for 77 cents apiece.

German investor Nickolaus Becker has offered to buy assets from insolvent luxury fashion company Escada and is hoping to start talks within the next couple of weeks, he said on Tuesday. Becker, a Munich-based lawyer and former supervisory board chairman of EM.TV, told Reuters he made a written offer on Friday and hoped to meet the Escada administrator in the next week or two but had had no response so far. Escada said it would be open to offers, but administrator Christian Gerloff had not received Becker's bid yet.

Merchant services provider SmartPay has bought the payments division of eftpos company ProvencoCadmus after it fell into receivership earlier this month, The National Business Review reported. The purchase includes all of ProvencoCadmus’ New Zealand and Australian payments operations, transactional business and all intellectual property relating to payments. Unsustainable debt, lack of investment capital and a weaker than expected trading performance in its retail automation business saw ProvencoCadmus go into receivership on August 4.

The International Monetary Fund’s chief economist says a global economic recovery is underway but warns that the growth path of the past may not return and the economic crisis has left deep scars, Finfacts reported. “The crisis has left deep scars, which will affect both supply and demand for many years to come,” IMF Chief Economist Olivier Blanchard said. Economies may struggle to return to “normal” growth because of sluggish demand, and even the return of growth will not be strong enough to reduce unemployment, the article said.

The judge overseeing Chemtura Corp.'s Chapter 11 proceedings has approved a $3 million settlement pact between Solvay SA and Chemtura under which the latter will drop its hydrogen peroxide price-fixing action against Solvay, Bankruptcy Law360 reported. Chemtura was a member of the plaintiff class of direct purchasers of hydrogen peroxide that brought claims in multidistrict antitrust litigation in Pennsylvania district court against defendants including Akzo Nobel Inc., Arkema Inc. and Solvay.

The German government is weighing new measures to help companies should there be another credit crisis, Economic Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg said. The disclosure, which overshadowed news Tuesday of a rise in Germany's ZEW index of investor confidence in August, is the latest warning from a German policy maker on future risks facing the economy, The Wall Street Journal reported. Deputy Economics Minister Hartmut Schauerte said the government is looking at ways to make sure companies will continue to have access to the capital they need if there is another credit crunch.