Privately held restaurant group PizzaExpress said on Tuesday it would close 73 restaurants in the UK, impacting 1,100 jobs, as coronavirus lockdowns and higher costs hurt its business, Reuters reoprted. The UK-based restaurant chain said it has launched a company voluntary arrangement (CVA) to improve its finances by reducing rental agreements and temporarily moving from quarterly to monthly rents. “Hard as this process is, it will protect the jobs of over 9,000 of our colleagues,” Zoe Bowley, the company’s UK and Ireland managing director, said in a statement.

Finablr, the payments group embroiled in an accounting scandal, said on Monday that founder BR Shetty would resign as director and co-chairman with immediate effect. The company, which grew out of a United Arab Emirates remittance house and is part of the Indian entrepreneur’s business empire, last month appointed law firm Skadden to help investigate potential wrongdoing and theft in relation to about £1bn of undisclosed debt discovered on its balance sheet earlier this year, the Financial Times reported.

Debenhams has insisted its decision to appoint a potential liquidator was merely a matter of procedure as its administrators continue their search for investors to secure the future of one of Britain’s best-known retailers, the Financial Times reoprted. The department store entered administration in April but has continued to trade while taking a series of measures to reduce costs to cope with the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. Lazards was appointed to explore a sale in July.

The British government is trying to find a way to offer state-backed loans to debt-laden companies owned by private equity groups, in the hope of rescuing a swath of the British high street, the Financial Times reported. The Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy department (Beis) wants to help private equity-backed groups that employ large numbers of people, such as PizzaExpress, Prezzo or Merlin, the owner of Legoland, without breaching EU state aid rules, according to four people involved in the process.

Fashion retailer New Look is to undertake a second debt restructuring in as many years, as it grapples with the effects of the coronavirus pandemic on its already-struggling business, the Financial Times reported. The group will convert £440m of debt into equity and inject £40m of new cash. It will also launch another company voluntary agreement, to switch most of its stores on to turnover-based rents, in a move that if successful would set a significant precedent in the sector.

“Hard times are here” was how chancellor Rishi Sunak greeted this morning’s data showing the UK officially in its first recession — defined as two consecutive quarters of negative growth — since the global financial crisis, the Financial Times reported. The 20.4 per cent fall in output — the biggest UK quarterly fall ever and the largest in any of the world’s major developed economies — led to calls from business groups for “bold action”, especially as government job support schemes begin to wind down.

The High Court has expedited a trial at which it would be determined whether luxury car manufacturer McLaren Group could obtain the release of certain security for the benefit of its senior noteholders, failing which a financial restructuring which was contingent on that release could not be implemented…The court concluded that, absent determination of the proceedings within one month, McLaren Group would have no choice but to enter an insolvency process and that this justified expedition in this case, Lexology reported.

Corporate insolvencies may increase this winter, with new research from the insolvency and restructuring trade body R3 indicating that a steep rise may start as early as this October, Scottish Legal News reported. The R3 research – based on a member survey of insolvency and restructuring professionals – highlights that an overwhelming majority (93.7 per cent) of respondents expect corporate insolvency numbers to rise over the next year, with nearly six-in-ten (56 per cent) predicting that the increase will occur between October and December 2020.

The national college for High Speed 2 looks set to be taken over by a university as part of a government review initiated after the FE commissioner warned it faced potential insolvency, FE Week reported. The University of Birmingham has been announced as the preferred bidder to take on the National College for Advanced Transport and Infrastructure (NCATI), as part of a structure and prospects appraisal (SPA) of the college.

Payment freezes on personal loans are masking the true nature of deteriorating personal finances, an insolvency expert has warned, Peer2Peer Finance News reported. Analysis by debt industry data company TDX Group found the volume of individual voluntary arrangements (IVAs) and trust deeds decreased by 39 per cent between the first and second quarter of 2020 and is down 38 per cent annually. However, David Heathcote, personal insolvency expert at TDX Group, is predicting a steep rise in the fourth quarter and next year as borrowers come off payment holidays.