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Corporate liquidations and receiverships in Scotland during the first quarter increased by 17.3% year-on-year, to a total of 332, Insider.co.uk reported. The new figures from Scotland's insolvency service Accountant in Bankruptcy also showed that this first quarter figure was up by 12.9%, compared with the previous quarter’s total of 294.

Mike Lynch’s estate looks likely to be wiped out after a High Court judge ordered it to pay more than £700 million in damages to Hewlett Packard Enterprise in one of the UK’s biggest corporate fraud cases, The Times reported. Mr Justice Hildyard ruled in 2022 that Lynch had defrauded Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) over the US tech giant’s $11.7 billion (£8.7 billion) acquisition of his business software company, Autonomy, in 2011.

Balmanno House, a registered charity located in the West End of Glasgow which had been providing residential care for over 200 years, was placed in administration in April 2023, Scottish Financial News reported. The joint administrators continued to trade the business for a short period to ensure an orderly relocation of residents to alternative care. Following a considerable level of interest the property was sold to RSD Property Holdings Limited for residential development for an undisclosed sum.

The U.S. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board said on Tuesday it had revoked the license of a Hong Kong firm and barred its owner for violating audit rules related to companies operating in China, including Luckin Coffee Inc., Reuters reported. The PCAOB said in a statement it had sanctioned Centurion ZD CPA & Co and its owner Chan Kam Fuk and hit them with a civil penalty of $75,000 for violating the board's rules and standards in connection with its audit work for three firms.

The insolvency of Ardian-backed mountain biking company YT Industries highlights the escalating challenges facing the global biking industry, driven by a confluence of tariffs, post-pandemic market shifts, and overreliance on private equity-driven growth, according to a CoinWorld analysis. Founded in Germany, YT Industries had emerged as a standout brand during the 2020–2022 outdoor gear boom, leveraging high-profile partnerships, free beer-laden showrooms, and aggressive marketing to capture market share.

The U.S. and Japan have reached a trade agreement, President Trump wrote in a social-media post Tuesday evening, saying he would set his so-called reciprocal tariffs at 15% for the country, the Wall Street Journal reported. Under the deal, Japan will invest $550 billion in the U.S., Trump said in his post on Truth Social. The U.S. will receive 90% of the profits from the investments, he added, without providing further details. Japan will also open to trade, Trump said, listing goods including cars and trucks, rice and other agricultural products.

Jolted by the threat of sweeping U.S. tariffs and “unfair” Chinese trade practices, the European Union and Japan on Wednesday launched a “competitiveness alliance” to expand bilateral trade ties, promote business cooperation and explore ways to diversify critical mineral supply chains, the Japan Times reported. The move comes as both sides have faced increased economic pressure from Washington. U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that Washington had reached a new trade deal with Tokyo that leaves in place some tariffs, but the EU still faces a 30% levy with an Aug. 1 deadline.

The European Commission plans to submit counter-tariffs on 93 billion euros ($109 billion) of U.S. goods for approval to EU members, while its trade chief will hold talks with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Reuters reported. The Commission said on Wednesday that its primary focus was to achieve a negotiated outcome with the United States to avert 30% U.S. tariffs that U.S. President Donald Trump has said he will impose on the 27-nation bloc on August 1.

U.S. President Donald Trump announced a new 19% tariff rate for goods from the Philippines on Tuesday after what he called a "beautiful visit" by Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to the White House, and said U.S. goods would pay zero tariffs, Reuters reported. The new tariff rate is just below the 20% threatened by Trump earlier this month, but still above the 17% rate set in April when Trump announced what he called reciprocal tariff rates for dozens of countries. It matches the 19% rate announced for Indonesia and bests Vietnam's slightly higher rate of 20%.

Indonesia will drop tariffs to zero on more than 99% of its trade with the United States and will also eliminate all non-tariff barriers for American goods in a deal that cuts threatened U.S. tariffs on Indonesian products to 19% from an initial 32%, a senior Trump administration official said on Tuesday, Reuters reported.