The UK government has launched a new investigation into the takeover of the Telegraph Media Group backed by the United Arab Emirates, prolonging the uncertainty over the newspaper group’s future, Bloomberg News reported. The move effectively resets the ongoing probe that was set to present its findings on Friday and extends the deadline to March 11.

The UK government handed English councils a £600 million ($765 million) top-up to their budgets for the next financial year after concerns that a wave of local authorities were heading toward bankruptcy, Bloomberg News reported. Michael Gove, secretary of state for leveling up, housing and communities, on Wednesday announced a £500 million funding boost for councils responsible for providing social care services. An extra £100 million is provided to ensure local authorities see at least a 4% rise in their spending power and for other measures, such as rural services.

British electric-vehicle company Arrival is heading closer to insolvency after lining up a new set of advisers to oversee contingency planning, Sky News reported on Monday. The company is in talks with accounting firm EY about acting as administrator if it cannot secure rescue funding, the report added. EV firms that went public in the SPAC boom during the pandemic capitalized on strong demand from investors looking for the next Tesla. However, high interest rates, inflation, supply chain issues and production struggles have sapped their cash balances with few or no vehicles on roads.

More than 47,000 UK companies are on the brink of collapse after a 25% jump in the number of businesses facing “critical” financial distress in the final three months of 2023, according to a report, The Guardian reported. It marks the second consecutive quarter-on-quarter period when critical financial distress has risen by a 25%, the latest “Red Flag” report by insolvency specialists Begbies Traynor found. The construction and property sectors accounted for 30% of all businesses facing critical financial distress.

Cheshire East Council in the United Kingdom is not at risk of going “bankrupt”, said its finance sub-committee chair, the Nantwitch News reported. And if it did ever have to trigger a S114 notice suppliers and staff would be paid, claims Cllr Nick Mannion. He was speaking at the corporate policy committee where the council’s finances were being discussed. He congratulated officers on bringing down the predicted end-of-year overspend to £13m at the end of quarter three – it had been forecast at £18.7m at the end of the second quarter of the financial year.

British retailers suffered the biggest drop in sales for almost three years during December, raising the risk that the economy slipped into recession late last year, official data showed on Friday, Reuters reported. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said people doing Christmas shopping earlier than usual - especially for food - contributed to retail sales volumes shrinking 3.2% between December and November. It was the biggest monthly drop since January 2021 and left the level of sales at its lowest ebb since May 2020.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s hometown is among a fresh wave of UK town halls seeking government approval for emergency financial support in a last-ditch bid to avoid bankruptcy, Bloomberg News reported. Southampton City Council applied to the government for “exceptional financial support” last week, a move that could buy it more time to avert the bankruptcies that caused crises at Birmingham, Nottingham and Woking. It is seeking a capitalization direction that allows councils to fund day-to-day spending from their capital resources, including borrowing and asset sales.

Inflation in Britain rose slightly in December, picking up for the first time in almost a year, after a change in tobacco taxes pushed up prices, the New York Times reported. Consumer prices rose 4 percent in December from a year earlier, up from 3.9 percent the previous month, the Office for National Statistics said on Wednesday. Despite the unexpected uptick, inflation is still near its slowest pace in two years and well below where the nation’s central bank thought it would end 2023.

The number of UK companies going bust jumped 14% in 2023 as firms collapsed under the weight of higher borrowing costs and weaker economic growth, Bloomberg News reported. Retail, construction and hospitality firms helped to drive total company insolvencies up to 25,159 in 2023, according to the government’s Insolvency Service. There was a 2% year-on-year increase in December, which is typically a low month for insolvencies. The figures show growing strains on companies after a lull in the pandemic period, reflecting higher borrowing costs and a stagnating economy.

Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey said the integration of cryptocurrencies into the global financial system has stalled as the coins struggle to win over regulators and the public, Bloomberg News reported. “My own sense is that it’s not taking off as what I might call a core financial service,” Bailey told the UK Parliament’s Treasury Committee on Wednesday.