British businesses have reported a sharp rise in recruitment difficulties within the space of just a few weeks - partly as a result of a continued lack of European Union workers, official figures showed on Thursday, Reuters reported. Some 41% of companies with 10 or more staff reported greater than usual recruitment challenges in the two weeks to Sept. 5, up from 32% in early August, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.

British inflation hit a more than nine-year high last month after the biggest monthly jump in the annual rate in at least 24 years, largely due to a one-off boost reflecting the "Eat Out to Help Out" scheme that pushed down restaurant meal prices last year, Reuters reported. Consumer prices rose by 3.2% in annual terms last month after a 2.0% rise in July, the highest rate since March 2012, the Office for National Statistics said. The 1.2 percentage point rise in the annual rate of inflation in the space of a month marked the sharpest such increase since detailed records started in 1997.

Job vacancies in Britain climbed to a record in August, rising above one million for the first time, as the labor market continued its uneven recovery, according to data released Tuesday by the Office for National Statistics, the New York Times reported. As Britain emerged from lockdowns, the demand for workers has soared. Every sector is seeking more workers, with restaurants, bars, hotels and other accommodation and food businesses trying to hire the most over the summer.

Empty beer taps in pubs, supermarkets low on Diet Coke, milkshakes missing at McDonald’s: It seems each new day in Britain brings a new notice of scarce products and services as businesses are waylaid by the country’s shortage of truck drivers and other workers, the New York Times reported. The problem extends beyond the most visible parts of the economy. Job vacancies in Britain are about 20 percent higher than their prepandemic levels, and the need for workers has gripped nearly every occupation, including computer programmers, health care assistants and farmworkers.

The U.K. Insolvency Service has announced that temporary measures introduced last year to help viable businesses avoid being forced into unnecessary insolvency during the COVID-19 pandemic will be phased out from October 1, Business-Sale.com reported. The end of the previous legislation will occur alongside the introduction of new measures to help businesses recover. The Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act, which came into force in June 2020, introduced several temporary measures designed to help businesses through the COVID-19 crisis.

EasyJet Plc rejected an unsolicited takeover approach and said it plans to raise more than $2 billion, giving the U.K. airline a buffer to see it through a return to leisure travel, Bloomberg News reported. The shares fell as much as 14%. The preliminary offer was conditional, all-stock and had a low premium, EasyJet said Thursday in a statement. It was rejected unanimously by the board and has been withdrawn. Instead, the discount airline will sell 1.2 billion pounds ($1.65 billion) of stock through a rights offering and raise an added $400 million in debt.

The $10 billion takeover battle for British supermarket group Morrisons between two U.S. private equity groups looks set to be decided by a rarely used auction process, Reuters reported. Morrisons said on Wednesday that it was in talks with Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R), Fortress Investment Group and Britain's takeover regulator about an auction to settle its future. Last month, Morrisons agreed a 7 billion pound ($9.6 billion) offer from CD&R, which has former Tesco boss Terry Leahy as a senior adviser.

Credit Suisse Group AG said it made a $400 million payment to investors in its supply-chain finance funds that invested in Greensill products, its fourth such disbursement to clients hit by the liquidation, Bloomberg News reported. The Aug. 6 payment takes the total paid to investors in the funds to about $5.9 billion, according to an updated Q&A on the bank’s website on Tuesday. The funds’ total cash position is about $7 billion, or about 70% of assets under management when they were suspended, it said. The Aug.

August saw the lowest figure for proposed job cuts for seven years, despite the imminent end of the government's furlough scheme, BBC.com reported. Figures published by the Insolvency Service show that British employers planned 12,687 job cuts in August, a fall of 11% since July. The data suggests that the predicted surge in unemployment this autumn may be smaller than expected. At the height of the pandemic, firms proposed over 150,000 job cuts a month. Employers planning to make 20 or more staff redundant have to notify the Insolvency Service when they start the process.

UK music tech startup Roli has filed for bankruptcy and will reform, Digital Music News reported. The company says its niche target market and the coronavirus pandemic forced a reset. Both Pharrell and Grimes backed the British music startup. some Roli products will live on through Luminary, which is rising from the ashes of the Roli bankruptcy. CEO and Founder Roland Lamb raised £5 million to launch the rebooted company, Luminary. Roli’s 70 employees will shift to the new business, which closed $6.85 million in initial funding from Hoxton Ventures.