Headlines

Americanas SA shares sank further after the Brazilian retailer, whose main backers include billionaire Jorge Paulo Lemann, obtained a decision that paves the way for a potential bankruptcy filing, sparking a legal reaction from creditors that accuse the company of fraud, Bloomberg reported. The Rio de Janeiro-based firm said on Friday a local court granted it protection against early debt maturity and asset-seizure for a 30-day period, after which Americanas could file for bankruptcy protection.

Britain's lenders are tightening eligibility criteria amid rising interest rates and a cost of living crisis, but demand for borrowing remains elevated, credit data firm Experian said on Tuesday, Reuters reported. Experian's key customers include banks, non-traditional lenders and insurance providers, which use its credit reports and scores to analyse and make decisions around credit risk, fraud prevention and lending terms.

The owner of Byron Burger has said it will shut nine restaurants after falling into administration, YahooFinance.com reported. Famously Proper, which owns Byron and fried chicken brand Mother Clucker, said it will cut 218 jobs as a result of the closures. The company was set up after private equity firm Calveton rescued Byron from a previous administration in 2020 following the impact of the pandemic. The company was set up after private equity firm Calveton rescued Byron from a previous administration in 2020 following the impact of the pandemic.

Struggling to remain financially viable, Eat Local Grey Bruce has asked Grey County council to provide $25,000 in direct funding to help the group continue to operate, YahooFinance.com reported. The local non-profit food cooperative that promotes healthy eating and locally grown and produced food recently announced that it is insolvent and may have to file for bankruptcy. In an effort to continue operating, the organization has launched a crowdfunding campaign, is trying to reorganize the business into a more sustainable model and is seeking new volunteers to revitalize the group.

Canada's annual inflation rate eased more than expected in December as gas prices came down but core measures remained little changed from the previous month, Statistics Canada said on Tuesday, making another interest rate hike this month likely, Reuters reported. Inflation slowed to 6.3% in December from 6.8% in November, a notch lower than the 6.4% median forecast of analysts. Prices fell 0.6% from the previous month, again showing price pressures easing more than analysts' forecast for a 0.5% decline.

China's economy slowed sharply in the fourth quarter due to stringent COVID curbs, dragging down 2022 growth to one of its worst in nearly half a century and raising pressure on policymakers to unveil more stimulus this year, Reuters reported. Gross domestic product (GDP) grew 2.9% in October-December from a year earlier, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed on Tuesday, slower than the third-quarter's 3.9% pace. The rate still exceeded the second quarter's 0.4% expansion and market expectations of a 1.8% gain.

Chinese financial regulators and the nation’s biggest bad-debt management companies plan to offer as much as 160 billion yuan ($24 billion) of refinancing support to high-quality developers in the first quarter, Bloomberg News reported. Under the plan first announced on Friday with little details, the People’s Bank of China will channel 80 billion yuan of loans through China Huarong Asset Management Co. and its peers to selected developers at an annual rate of 1.75%, the people said, asking not to be identified because the matter is private.

China Evergrande Group said PwC resigned as its auditor on Monday, adding to the pressure on the developer at the epicenter of China’s property crisis, Bloomberg News reported. Evergrande’s board recommended the resignation of PwC after the two firms couldn’t “agree on the timetable and the scope of work in respect of the assessment on the group’s going concern basis,” as well as the “procedures required for the assets impairment assessment,” according to a regulatory filing. In its Jan.

The International Monetary Fund expects that global economic growth will begin to rebound later this year and that a worldwide recession can be averted if China continues to ease its pandemic restrictions and Russia’s war in Ukraine does not worsen, Reuters reported. Kristalina Georgieva, the managing director of the I.M.F., expressed optimism on Thursday that the recent run of downgrades to global growth could be coming to an end and that an economic expansion could accelerate next year. Her comments, made to reporters during a briefing at the I.M.F.

Poland's Rafako said on Thursday that it was planning to file for bankruptcy, a day after Tauron demanded 1.3 billion zloty ($298 million) from a Rafako consortium that built a power plant the state-controlled utility says is faulty, Reuters reported. Rafako, which makes a wide range of boilers, disputes Tauron's claims for damages and fees, but is concerned they could impact its ability to conduct business operations and find an investor it is seeking, the company said in a statement.