Retail sales growth in the U.K. slowed in February, when consumer demand was damped by record rainfall, according to a British Retail Consortium report, the Wall Street Journal reported. Total retail sales for the four weeks to Feb. 24 increased by 1.1% on year, compared with annual 1.2% growth the prior month and the three-month average of 1.4%, according to the BRC-KPMG Retail Sales Monitor report published Tuesday. Annual growth stood at 5.2% in February last year.

The German branch of the cosmetics retailer Body Shop will not be closing any stores for the time being, despite the firm's bankruptcy, DPAInternational.com reported. "We are not thinking about closing any stores at the moment," the company's provisional insolvency administrator, Biner Bähr, told dpa on Friday. Business operations will continue as normal for the more than 400 employees in the 63 stores in the country, Bähr said. Body Shop filed for insolvency in Germany two weeks ago.

Bankrupt Brazilian airline Gol received U.S. court approval on Wednesday for a $1 billion loan, after resolving the concerns of a group of lenders that feared they would be sidelined by the new loan, Reuters reported. Gol had previously proposed borrowing $950 million in bankruptcy, but it allowed the objecting lenders to kick in an additional $50 million on the new loan and receive interest on that new debt, Gol's attorney Justin Cunningham said at a hearing in Manhattan.

Corporate insolvencies could climb 10 percent this year Allianz has warned, stating the U.K. is more exposed than other European nations to a spike in business insolvencies, CityAM reported. The insurer’s global insolvency outlook estimated 15 percent of small and medium-sized businesses in the U.K. are at risk of going bust, the highest proportion of “fragile firms” in Europe. This compared to 14 percent in France, nine percent in Italy and seven percent in Germany.

Councils have warned that neighbourhood services will have to be cut despite a Government bailout, with fears that more authorities will go bust over the coming years, PA Media reported. If further funding is not made available in the Budget on March 6, communities will face the consequences of a worsening financial crisis across local government, the Local Government Association (LGA) said. An LGA survey of council chief executives found 85% of local authorities continue to plan reductions in spending on key services after the Government made an extra £600 million available for 2024/25.

The Bank of England may sell all the U.K. government bonds bought under quantitative easing to better prepare for a future crisis, a move that would put it at odds with the U.S. Federal Reserve, Bloomberg News reported.

Newcastle United co-owner Amanda Staveley will ask the High Court to block a billionaire from bankrupting her on Wednesday, the Daily Telegraph reported. Staveley has been plunged into a multi-million pound legal battle with Greek shipping tycoon Victor Restis over claims she failed to repay a loan of more than £35 million dating back more than a decade. Lawyers for Staveley applied to the High Court in June to have a statutory demand issued by Restis “set aside” – a move that would prevent him from presenting her with a bankruptcy order if the debt is not paid within 21 days.

A city council has said it will have to effectively declare bankruptcy if its application for emergency government help is refused, BBC.com reported. Southampton City Council said that it had ended efforts to meet a £39m budget shortfall for 2024-25 on its own.

The U.K.’s competition regulator said it has launched an investigation into whether eight housebuilders have shared commercially sensitive information with their competitors, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Competition and Markets Authority said Monday that it will investigate Barratt Developments, Bellway, Berkeley, Bloor Homes, Persimmon, Redrow, Taylor Wimpey and Vistry. So far, the CMA hasn’t reached any conclusions as to whether or not competition law has been infringed, it said Monday.

The pace of a sales decline for British retailers eased in February and a measure of inflation dropped to its weakest in nearly three years, according to industry figures which echoed official data published earlier this month, Reuters reported. The Confederation of British Industry's (CBI) monthly retail sales balance, a gauge of sales versus a year ago, rose to -7 from -50 in January, the slowest fall in 10 months. But retailers expected the decline in sales to pick up slightly in March to -15.