The number of company insolvencies registered in Scotland saw a modest decrease in April 2025, falling by 7% compared to the same month in the previous year, with 101 cases recorded, ScottishFinancialNews.com reported. This total comprised 47 creditors’ voluntary liquidations (CVLs), 51 compulsory liquidations, and three administrations. There were no company voluntary arrangements (CVAs) or receivership appointments. Looking at the broader picture, the company insolvency rate in Scotland for the 12 months ending April 2025 stood at 51.2 per 10,000 active companies.

Newly released figures show 377 firms in the construction industry collapsed in England and Wales in March – a figure that has increased 2.5 per cent from a revised 368 in February, and a sharp 23 per cent increase from January’s 306, ConstructionWave.co.uk reported. The latest data from the Insolvency Service shows insolvencies within the sector fluctuated over the year, with its highest of 403 in the previous 12 months in April 2024. Of the 377 construction firms that went under in March, more than half (54 per cent) came from specialist subcontractors, with 203 companies folding.

A South Yorkshire steel company has avoided insolvency for the moment after a potential buyer was found, the U.K. High Court has heard, BBC.com reported. Speciality Steel UK (SSUK), part of the Liberty Steel Group founded by Sanjeev Gupta, employs 1,450 people and has plants in Rotherham and Sheffield. Lawyers representing SSUK said at a hearing on Wednesday that "urgent meetings" had been taking place with a "third party purchaser".

Builder.ai, one of the UK’s best-funded technology start-ups, is entering insolvency proceedings, weeks after restating its revenues and admitting “problems” under its past leadership, the Financial Times reported. The London-based group, which is backed by Microsoft, informed employees it was filing for bankruptcy during a company-wide call on Tuesday. The company confirmed that its main unit, Engineer.ai Corporation, “will be entering into insolvency proceedings and will appoint an administrator to manage the company’s affairs”.

Asda is planning to sell about 20 supermarket stores for £400m to generate more cash for the business, The Telegraph reported. The supermarket chain is looking to offload the stores, which are located across the country, and lease them back for around 20 years. It has appointed property adviser Eastdil Secured to seek out buyers, according to property-focused publication Green Street News. Sale-and-leaseback deals are popular among major supermarkets as a means of raising capital to shore up their balance sheets.

The U.K.’s annual rate of inflation jumped further above the Bank of England’s target in April as businesses raised their prices in response to higher payroll taxes and increased utility charges, an expected move that will nonetheless reinforce the central bank’s caution, the Wall Street Journal reported. Consumer prices rose 3.5% in April compared with a year earlier, the highest rate of inflation since January 2024 and up from the 2.6% of March this year, the U.K.’s Office for National Statistics said Wednesday.

Britain and the European Union signed a deal to ease trade and bolster security cooperation, taking the biggest step to improve their relationship since the U.K. quit the bloc five years ago, the Wall Street Journal reported. EU leaders gathered in London alongside British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Monday to unveil the deal, which doesn’t undo Brexit but shows both sides have buried the hatchet after years of painful wrangling.

The Insolvency Service will take over NATIS’s viable investigation cases of Covid-19 financial support fraud in a bid to recoup taxpayers’ money lost to fraudsters in the U.K., according to a press release. Following a review of National Investigation Service (NATIS) performance to ensure the state works for people – it showed that public money was not being spent effectively – which is why all ongoing viable cases will be transferred from the organisation to the Insolvency Service over the coming months.

Britain on Thursday told its antitrust regulator to get behind its push for economic growth and minimise uncertainty for businesses by making more timely, transparent and responsive interventions in merger control, digital markets and consumer protection, Reuters reported. Since taking power last year, the Labour government has stepped up pressure on the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and other regulators, demanding they play their part in tearing down barriers that hold back growth. The CMA is independent but it follows a "strategic steer" set by the secretary of state for business.