London-based Pearson PLC will pay $1 million to settle charges it misled investors about a 2018 cyber intrusion involving the theft of millions of student records, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said on Monday, Reuters reported. The educational-publishing firm did not admit nor deny the regulator's charges, the SEC said, but in 2019 the firm disclosed in its annual report that the data breach may have included birth dates and email addresses, when, in fact, it knew that such records were stolen.

Britain's economy grew by a faster-than-expected 1.0% in June, the first full month of indoor service for many hospitality firms, and also helped by the healthcare sector due to a rise in routine medical checkups after the pandemic, Reuters reported. But the official data showed British gross domestic product remained 2.2% smaller than it was immediately before the pandemic struck the country, a reminder of the damage done by Britain's long coronavirus lockdowns last year.

Post-Brexit trade frictions have “significantly altered” freight traffic between the Republic and Britain and sparked a steep rise in volumes to and from Ireland and other European Union members, an Irish Government agency report noted on Thursday, the Irish Times reported. The introduction of checks on some goods since Britain left the EU’s trading orbit on December 31st cut imports from Britain by 35 per cent in the first five months of 2021 while the number of shipping routes to mainland Europe more than doubled.

Two businesses have been closed down after submitting false documents to at least 41 local authorities and the government’s bounce back loan (BBL) scheme to secure £230,000 worth of emergency support during the pandemic, P2P Finance News reported. LV Distributions and SIO Traders were wound up in the high court during separate hearings on 27 July 2021 following enquiries conducted by the Insolvency Service, which proved neither company ever traded. Councils in Wiltshire, Herefordshire and Guildford were among those targeted.

The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) obtained a bankruptcy order against Mohammed Fuaath Haja Maideen Maricar on Monday, who is accused of unlawful forex trading promotion, Finance Magnates reported. According to the announcement, the UK High Court issued an order against the individual to pay £530,000 to the FCA. This amount will be distributed among the victims of 24HR Trading Academy Ltd. Moreover, the FCA says that Maricar has failed to make any payment concerning the court’s restitution order.

The battle for Wm Morrison Supermarkets Plc looks set to drag on for at least a few more weeks after Clayton Dubilier & Rice LLC secured an extended deadline to bid for Britain’s fourth-largest grocer, Bloomberg News reported. Britain’s Takeover Panel confirmed a new deadline of Aug. 20 for the buyout firm to “put up or shut up” in a statement on Monday. CD&R asked to push back the date from Aug. 9 after rival Fortress Investment Group pre-emptively raised its offer for Morrison to 6.7 billion pounds ($9.3 billion) on Friday.

Credit Suisse has repaid another $400 million to investors in its Greensill-linked supply chain finance funds, the Swiss bank said on Friday, Reuters reported. The collapse of the funds in March kicked off a tumultuous period for the bank, culminating with a multi-billion dollar loss related to investment fund Archegos, a raft of executive oustings and an impending strategic overhaul. The payout, originally announced with the bank's second-quarter earnings last week, is the fourth distribution so far and takes the total amount returned to the investors to roughly $5.9 billion.

British supermarket group Morrisons has agreed to an improved takeover offer worth 6.7 billion pounds ($9.3 billion) in cash from a consortium led by Fortress Investment Group, though its shares were trading above the level of the new bid, Reuters reported. That indicated investors were still hoping for a counter bid from U.S. private equity group Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R). Softbank-owned Fortress said its raised offer comprises 270 pence per Morrisons share plus a 2 pence a share special dividend and was aimed at warding off its rival suitor.

Prime minister Boris Johnson and chancellor Rishi Sunak have vowed to overhaul rules governing Britain's huge asset management industry to make it easier to firms to invest in the U.K., Yahoo News reported. The pair issued a rallying cry to Britain's investment industry on Wednesday night, calling for money managers to plough more cash into British businesses and assets. The prime minister and the chancellor sent an open letter to senior investment industry professionals, calling for an "investment Big Bang" to help drive the country's recovery from COVID.

Inflation in Britain will rise to an annual rate of 4 percent later this year, according to new projections by the Bank of England, a level that is double the central bank’s target and one that hasn’t been reached in a decade. But policymakers didn’t feel the need to immediately slow their efforts to stimulate the economy, the New York Times reported. They said that the increase in prices would be temporary and that inflation would return to its 2 percent target in 2023.