Retail sales growth in the U.K. slowed in January mainly due to easing inflation and weak consumer demand, with cost-of-living pressures entering their third year, according to British Retail Consortium data, the Wall Street Journal reported. Total retail sales for the four weeks to Jan. 27 increased by 1.2% on month compared with 1.7% growth the prior month and the three-month average of 1.9%, the BRC-KPMG Retail Sales Monitor said Tuesday. Growth stood at 4.2% in January last year.

Bradford Council has drafted in a specialist to overhaul its finances as it tries to avoid going bust, BBC.com reported. Steven Mair became the authority's interim director of finance last month. He had previously been brought in by councils in Essex and Berkshire as they went through effective bankruptcy. A Bradford Council spokesperson said officers were pleased he would "support us at this financially challenging time". They said Mr Mair had "extensive experience of dealing with successful financial and change management projects across several local authorities".

Close Brothers Group Plc extended a share price rout that has wiped out a third of its value this year, amid ongoing reviews by the Financial Conduct Authority of two markets in which the 145-year-old British bank operates in, Bloomberg News reported. The stock fell as much as 5% on Friday, as RBC Capital downgraded its rating due to the regulator’s separate reviews of both motor financing and insurance taken out on credit, known as premium finance.

Bank of England Chief Economist Huw Pill said the first interest rate reduction is still “some way off” despite signals that borrowing costs have probably peaked, Bloomberg News reported. Addressing the central bank’s regional agents after the deeply split vote to maintain the key rate at 5.25%, Pill said policy needed to remain “restrictive until the consistent component of inflation has been squeezed out of the system.” The remarks tempered expectations on a rapid series of rate cuts this year.

The Bank of England left its key interest rate unchanged but signaled it is likely to lower borrowing costs this year for the first time since 2020, though perhaps not as soon as investors expect, the Wall Street Journal reported. The U.K. central bank’s move followed a similar pivot by the Federal Reserve, which Wednesday signaled it was thinking about when to lower interest rates but hinted a cut wasn’t imminent when it held rates steady. Last week, the European Central Bank left its key rate at a record high but kept open the door to cuts as soon as the spring.

Business insolvencies in Northern Ireland soared by 62% in the final quarter of 2023 compared to the previous year, government figures show, the Irish News reported. But on the flip side, more than 13,200 start-ups were launched over the last 12 months. There were 81 company insolvencies in the north in the October-December period, according to the Insolvency Service, taking the total number of business failures over the calendar year to more than 200.

The number of companies going bust in the UK jumped to the highest level in 30 years as businesses were hit by a combination of high borrowing costs, surging inflation and weakening consumer demand, Bloomberg News reported. In 2023, there were 25,158 registered company insolvencies across England and Wales, according to quarterly data released on Tuesday by the government’s Insolvency Service. That’s the most recorded since 1993. One in 186 active companies entered insolvent liquidation in 2023, the highest rate in around a decade.

The UK construction sector is facing an “immensely difficult period” after 4,370 construction companies went bust over the past year, according to new data, The Independent reported. The sector has experienced the highest number of bankruptcies of any industry in the UK for the past three years, according to auditing firm Mazars. In the year to the end of November, 4,370 companies went insolvent compared to 4,086 in 2021/22 and 2,481 in 2020/21. This reflected a 7% increase in insolvencies from 2021/22 and 76% in 2020/21 due to high material and labour costs.

Job vacancies in the UK fell by the most in more than three years in December, another sign a red-hot labor market is cooling, Bloomberg News reported. Figures in latest Job Market Report published by online portal Adzuna showed advertised vacancies declined 6.95% in December, the largest drop since June 2020. Early data suggests January will see a similar sized fall, marking what could be the start of difficult year for jobseekers, Adzuna said. The shift may ease upward pressure on wages that’s been a symptom of persistent inflationary pressures the Bank of England is trying to rein in.

A luxury development in the heart of Mayfair has collapsed into administration, after defaulting on its loans, Bloomberg News reported. 60 Curzon, a set of 32 apartments designed by the French architect Thierry Despont, has appointed insolvency experts from Interpath Advisory. The project, which was developed by Brockton Capital and financed by funds managed by Apollo Global Management Inc., will continue to be marketed. It is majority owned by two Chinese investment firms, Citic Capital and Cindat which bought their stake from Brockton in 2016.