British children's clothing retailer Adams Childrenswear Ltd. is on the brink of a form of bankruptcy protection, a spokeswoman for the 75-year-old company said Monday, which would make Adams the latest well-known British retailer to fall victim to the economic downturn. The spokeswoman said the central England-based kids clothing retailer had applied to go into administration on Wednesday and was expected to be placed in the hands of administrators at PricewaterhouseCoopers on Monday.

Britain's economic downturn claimed another prominent retailer Wednesday as music, games and DVD retail chain Zavvi filed for a form of bankruptcy protection, blaming the collapse of the Woolworth Group's distribution arm, the Associated Press reported. Ernst & Young administrators, appointed to run the company, said that they would continue to trade "with a view to selling all or part of its business as a going concern." Zavvi, created by a management buyout of the Virgin Megastores just over a year ago, is Britain's largest independent entertainment retailer.

Ireland's finance ministry said it will inject €5.5 billion ($7.66 billion) into three banks and take large stakes in them, days after a loan-accounting scandal at Anglo Irish Bank Corp. further weakened the country's already fragile banking sector, The Wall Street Journal reported. The government said it would make an initial investment of €1.5 billion in Anglo Irish in exchange for preference shares that will give it 75% of the voting rights of the bank.

British sofa retailer Land of Leather Holding PLC's share price plummeted 32 percent on Tuesday after it said that talks regarding a possible bid for the company had ended, the Associated Press reported. Land of Leather, which has 109 stores across Britain and Ireland and around 950 employees, said it had stopped discussions with "a number" of potential bidders after those early negotiations suggested any resulting offer would represent "insufficient value" for shareholders.

Dublin's premier pub-running company won bankruptcy protection Friday in a surprising sign that Ireland's credit crunch is pushing even the most liquid of businesses to the breaking point, the Associated Press reported. The High Court granted bankruptcy protection to the Thomas Read Group, which runs a dozen of the capital's most popular pubs and eight more at Dublin Airport. The company also runs an award-winning restaurant on the River Liffey, the Winding Stair Bookshop & Cafe, and a top Dublin nightclub, Ri Ra.

Troubled German lender Hypo Real Estate reported Monday a net loss of 3.1 billion euros ($4 billion) in the third quarter as the financial crisis worsened, with a unit in Ireland hit especially hard by write-downs on the values of its assets, the Associated Press reported.