The owner of Shearings, the coach holidays provider, has crashed into administration, resulting in the immediate loss of 2,500 jobs and thousands of customers' holidays being cancelled, Sky News reported. EY, the administrator to Specialist Leisure Group (SLG), confirmed late on Friday afternoon that it had made more than 2,000 staff redundant who had previously been furloughed under the government's job retention scheme. The news adds to the fast-growing toll of job losses across the economy as the coronavirus crisis continues to wreak havoc with industries such as leisure and tr

UK banks have hit out at the prospect of negative interest rates, saying the policy would slash their earnings and limit their ability to absorb an expected torrent of coronavirus-related loan losses, the Financial Times reported. With big British lenders on track to boost reserves to £18.5bn for bad debts in 2020, the Bank of England’s admission this week that it was eyeing negative rates for the first time in its 324-year history has caused deep concern in the sector.

The U.K. government has introduced new insolvency legislation to help businesses that are struggling from the economic impacts of coronavirus, Bloomberg News reported. The new Corporate Insolvency and Governance Bill will create more opportunities to save companies in difficulty and offer better protection from creditors during the pandemic, according to a statement Wednesday. Under the bill, U.K. companies will have access to new tools to restructure their debt in order to keep operating through the crisis.

Casual Dining Group, a KKR-owned company that runs continental-themed mass market restaurants brands in the U.K., is weighing cutting costs with its landlords and filing for administration, according to a person familiar with the matter, Bloomberg News reported. The owner of Cafe Rouge and Bella Italia, and employer to 6,000 people, said on Monday it hired advisers AlixPartners and law firm Kirkland & Ellis as it mulls alternatives to address liabilities that were last reported at near $300 million one year ago.

Boris Johnson’s chief Brexit negotiator accused the European Union of offering the U.K. only a “low-quality” trade deal as talks between the two sides descended into acrimony, Bloomberg News reported. In a dramatic intervention in the increasingly fractious negotiations over the future U.K.-EU relationship, David Frost complained the bloc is treating Britain as “unworthy” of a fair deal. He told his EU counterpart Michel Barnier to “think again.” The EU is demanding that the U.K.

British luggage brand Antler has collapsed into administration, becoming the latest victim of the coronavirus crisis and its devastating impact on international travel, Reuters reported. Restructuring firm KPMG said on Tuesday it had been appointed administrator to the 106-year old brand, which operates 18 retail stores and one concession outlet. It also sells via its own website, through Amazon and wholesales to several large retail chains across the United Kingdom. It also has third party licence deals in Australia and Asia.

Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd.’s ability to avoid collapse could come down to about a dozen potential investors who tuned into a video presentation on the airline’s coronavirus survival plan this week, Bloomberg News reported. Chief Executive Officer Shai Weiss pitched the firms in a simultaneous online link-up, according to a person familiar with the matter.

A financial scandal has swept through London and the United Arab Emirates, centered on allegations of fraud at the two core companies of the Abu Dhabi-based tycoon Bavaguthu Raghuram Shetty, Bloomberg News reported. Both NMC Health Plc and Finablr Plc have had their shares suspended in London, with NMC losing its place in the FTSE 100 index of leading U.K.-listed companies.

The UK agency tasked with unwinding Carillion is preparing to sue KPMG for £250m over alleged negligence in its audits of the outsourcing group that collapsed in 2018, the Financial Times reported. The significant claim will be the latest blow to the Big Four accounting firm, which is also under investigation by regulators for its work on Carillion. It is expected to be the first time that liquidators working for the British government have attempted to sue a large audit firm to recoup losses from a major insolvency.

Retail and property chiefs have warned that the government’s business bailout package of reliefs, grants and loans will not be sufficient to stop the “imminent collapse of many businesses,” the Financial Times reported. In a letter to small business minister Paul Scully and chancellor Rishi Sunak, the British Retail Consortium said the crisis “facing parts of the retail sector . . . must be addressed urgently ahead of the June quarter [rent] day”. The letter was also signed by the British Property Federation and Revo, which represents the top shopping centre owners.