Headlines

Alitalia began its new life as a privatized company on Tuesday, with its first domestic and international flights taking off without delay despite worker protests seeking to mar the inauguration of the streamlined national carrier, the Associated Press reported. But at Malpensa, workers unhappy with both the hiring regime and a deal to make Air France-KLM a minority partner held banners and marched inside the airport. Malpensa officials advised passengers that delays were possible.

Britain's retailers suffered their worst December in at least 14 years despite a blizzard of promotions and deals, a closely watched survey revealed Tuesday, stoking fears that more high-profile companies may go bust in the months ahead. In its monthly assessment of the sector, the British Retail Consortium said like-for-like sales, which strip out new stores and space, slumped 3.3 percent in December from the previous year. Total sales, which includes the additional space, fell by 1.4 percent.

Sofa retailer Land of Leather filed for bankruptcy protection on Monday, becoming the latest British retailer to succumb to a downturn in consumer spending amid the global economic slowdown, the Associated Press reported. Land of Leather, which operates 109 retail stores across Britain and Ireland, entered the administration process after failing to raise working capital or find a buyer. Land of Leather said it had found itself in challenging market conditions "for some time" as a result of the credit crunch and a lack of household spending on big ticket retail items.

German state help for carmaker Opel would be possible with a planned new fund for struggling German firms, Chancellor Angela Merkel told HR-Info radio. Reuters reported that Germany's coalition government is meeting later on Monday to agree a second stimulus package, which may include such a fund.

Which U.K. retailers will emerge as winners and losers from the recession? The number of retailers that have gone into administration over the past few weeks is now well into double figures. But for those left behind, there is light at the end of the tunnel. For example, entertainment retailers HMV Group and Game Group should benefit this year as a result of the demise of Zavvi Group and Woolworths. The same could be true for the big fashion retailers such as Next and Debenhams, which would be the big beneficiaries if smaller boutiques go to the wall.

Ssangyong Motor Co.’s union said it may accept wage cuts and job-sharing after the South Korean automaker filed for bankruptcy protection, Bloomberg reported. The union will also delaying holding strikes, Han Sang Kyun, head of the labor group, told reporters today in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, where Ssangyong is based. A potential plan for stoppages won support from 71 percent of the union’s roughly 5,200 members. The government and state-run Korea Development Bank should provide “urgent capital” for the carmaker, the union said.

The German company Agor AG, a recycler of salt slag from the aluminium industry, filed for the opening of insolvency proceedings, the trade journal EUWID Recycling and Waste Management reported. The company reported that it had not been able to secure funding to cover its short-term liquidity needs. Furthermore, it had to carry out additional asset write-downs with regard to its Canadian activities and its recently-opened salt slag treatment plant in Töging in Germany.

Car sales growth in China, the world's second-largest auto market, slowed to a single-digit rate last year for the first time in at least 10 years as consumer confidence waned with a slowing economy, spurring government steps to bolster demand, The Korea Herald reported. Analysts said the outlook for this year remained bleak, although tax incentives and other measures may help to keep the market from shrinking, while some automakers such as the Japanese have been able to cushion the blow by introducing new models.

For insolvency professionals, the expected flow of mandates has undoubtedly begun, The Lawyer reported. At the top end Linklaters (Lehman Brothers, Waterford Wedgwood) and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer (Woolworths) have made the most, but the rest of the headline work on high street names has gone not to the magic circle, but to two firms that have distinct insolvency heritages and which made their names in insolvency in the 1990s: DLA Piper and Hammonds.

Credit Suisse has formed a restructuring team in response to growing pleas for help from debt-dogged corporates wanting advice on their finances, the Financial Times reported. The move follows similar actions by banks such as Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. As European companies face $200 billion of debt coming due this year, according to Standard & Poor’s, their options to refinance are limited by the reduced willingness of banks and other investors to lend.