The number of people going financially insolvent is poised to spike in the run-up to Christmas as businesses fail and unpaid debts mount up, a survey of experts suggests, the Evening Express reported. The majority of personal insolvency experts who think there will be an increase in cases in the coming year think the spike will happen towards the end of 2020, although a significant proportion predict it will be in early 2021, according to the findings from insolvency and restructuring trade body R3.

A subsidiary of AIM-listed RBG Holdings plc, a professional services group, LionFish announced this week the launch of ISLERO, which it claimed will be able to offer cheaper and more flexible pricing structures, including some rate-based alternatives, Credit Strategy reported. LionFish said ISLERO will adopt the same principles that underpin LionFish’s overall litigation financing activities.

The extent of the coronavirus toll on the UK public finances was exposed on Tuesday with official figures showing a record government cash deficit in the first quarter of the financial year, more than twice the previous highest level of borrowing, the Financial Times reported. Between April and June, the government’s net cash requirement — the deficit of tax receipts over public spending — was £174bn, far higher than both the £20.3bn in the same period of 2019-20 and the previous quarterly record of £76.8bn at the height of the global financial crisis in the fourth quarter of 2009.

London-based Nithia Capital Resources Advisors LLP is seeking to acquire troubled Singapore commodity trader Agritrade International Pte Ltd (AIPL) and its shares in its Hong Kong-listed subsidiary, according to a source familiar with the matter, Reuters reported. AIPL, whose businesses span palm oil and coal, is undergoing a court-appointed restructuring after it collapsed earlier this year amid fraud allegations. It owes $1.55 billion, including $983 billion to at least 20 banks.

Company insolvencies are forecast to rise sharply in the UK over the coming months as government support measures are unravelled, the Financial Times reported. Begbies Traynor, the insolvency specialist, warned businesses were facing the “double whammy” of accruing liabilities and the withdrawal of state support schemes. “I expect we’ll see numbers of insolvencies in excess of what we saw in 2008,” said group executive chairman Ric Traynor, comparing the recession caused by the pandemic with the financial crash.

Amigo Loans warned on Monday that there was “material uncertainty” over its ability to continue operating, as the UK subprime lender grapples with rising customer complaints, a regulatory investigation and the coronavirus crisis, the Financial Times reported. The company said it was confident it had “adequate liquidity” but cautioned that additional financing would be needed if customer complaints were higher than expected for a prolonged period, or if the Financial Conduct Authority forced the group to carry out a major remediation exercise.

Restaurant chains Ask and Zizzi have been sold in a £70m prepack administration deal that means another 1,200 job losses in the UK’s already struggling casual dining sector, the Financial Times reported. The sale of Azzurri to TowerBrook Capital Partners, announced late on Friday, comes as the pandemic adds to the pain for a sector already under pressure from hefty debts and intense competition after a decade of rapid, private equity-backed expansion.

The problem is both extensive and urgent. Within months, the UK government will start dismantling the schemes it put in place to help small businesses through the Covid-19 lockdown, the Financial Times reported in a commentary. The loss of all those cheques for furloughed employees is bad enough, let alone the end of tax deferrals. But there is worse to come next spring, when the state starts demanding the repayment of the loans it has guaranteed (£46bn now and rising), which more than 2m smaller businesses are expected by then to have taken out to help eke out their cash flows.

More than 200 of Britain’s top financial experts have joined forces to design initiatives to help small businesses restructure and repay as much as 35 billion pounds in “unsustainable” COVID-19 relief debt, Reuters reported. TheCityUK Recapitalisation Group on Thursday proposed the launch of a UK Recovery Corporation (UKRC) to oversee a massive pile of government-guaranteed loans issued since lockdown, offering more manageable terms to borrowers and preventing a wave of bankruptcies borne by the taxpayer. “COVID-19 is a 100-year storm which has caused untold economic damage.

PizzaExpress is heading for a takeover by its lenders as early as this month in a debt-for-equity swap with Chinese owner Hony Capital that is also likely to involve closing some of its high street restaurants hard hit in the pandemic, the Financial Times reported. Investors in the £465m of senior secured bonds that back the company are in advanced talks over a restructuring deal, according to two people familiar with the discussions.