Firm Linked to UK Lingerie Tycoon Must Repay $163 Million for Breaching COVID Contracts

A British High Court judge ruled Wednesday that a company linked to a lingerie tycoon must repay the government more than 121 million pounds ($163 million) for breaching a contract to supply 25 million surgical gowns during the coronavirus pandemic, the Associated Press reported. In an 87-page ruling, Justice Sara Cockerill found that PPE Medpro had “breached the contract” and that the Department of Health and Social Care was “entitled to the price of the gowns as damages,” though not to the cost of storing the gowns.
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BOE Deputy Governor Sees Inflation Resuming Fall After ‘Hump’

The U.K.’s annual rate of inflation is on track to fall to the Bank of England’s 2% target despite a recent pickup, Deputy Governor Sarah Breeden said on Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal reported. The annual inflation rate was 3.8% in August, and the BOE expects it to rise to 4% this month before falling back. But in a speech in Cardiff, Breeden said it’s unlikely that pickup will have long-lasting consequences. “I do not see evidence that the disinflation process is veering off-track,” she said.
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Commentary: UK Insolvency Numbers Show the Pressure on Businesses is Not Letting Up

The Government’s latest company insolvency statistics reveal an uncomfortable truth: business failures in the U.K. are not easing, according to a commentary by Ed Rimmer, CEO of Time Finance, in GlobalData.com. In August 2025, 2,048 registered company insolvencies were recorded in England and Wales. That’s 6% higher than August 2024 and only slightly down on July 2025. Across the first eight months of this year, insolvencies have been running above 2024 levels and, more worryingly, at a similar pace to 2023 – a year that marked a 30-year high in annual insolvencies.
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