The U.K. car industry joined in a round of job cuts that has swept Europe, with auto companies looking to downsize to cope with lower sales following the Covid-19 pandemic, Bloomberg News reported. Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings Plc said Thursday it plans to eliminate almost 20% of the workforce, or as many as 500 positions, to cope with a slump in demand for luxury cars. Manchester-based vehicle-distributor Lookers Plc will close 12 sites and shed about 1,500 employees, while McLaren Group Ltd. said last week the supercar maker is seeking to cut about 1,200 jobs.

The UK government could face hefty losses on loans made to struggling businesses during the Covid-19 pandemic due to its new insolvency law that can force lenders to accept unfavourable terms during a debt restructuring process, Reuters reported. The new ‘Restructuring Plan’, part of the government’s Corporate Insolvency & Governance Bill being debated in parliament this week, empowers one class of creditors to force a debt restructuring plan on another class of creditors, in what is known as a cross class cramdown.

The coronavirus pandemic will reset the balance between private companies and the state in Britain and could in time produce a more productive economy, according to the man leading a 15 billion pound drive to support smaller firms, Reuters reported. Stephen Welton, head of Business Growth Fund (BGF), the most active investor in fast-growing British companies, is talking to the government, insurance companies, pension schemes and other investors to recapitalise businesses and prevent more permanent scarring. Central to any recovery, he believes, is the need to identify which compan

The outsiders that Michael Hintze brought in to his secretive hedge fund firm didn’t last long. Nor did their growth plans. The billionaire’s firm, known as CQS, a bastion of money-making whose flagship fund has returned more than three times the average of hedge fund peers since it opened in 2005, is now headed in reverse. The Hintze-managed fund plunged as much as 45% in March and April -- its worst-ever loss -- missing the rebound that followed the initial shock from the coronavirus pandemic even as peers recovered to post gains in April.

The threat of a no-deal Brexit is back -- and with it the risk that the U.K. economy’s shaky recovery from the coronavirus pandemic will be hobbled, Bloomberg News reported. As British and European Union negotiators head into the last round of talks scheduled before a key summit this month, chances are growing that the U.K. will end the post-Brexit transition period on Dec. 31 without a free trade agreement in place -- spelling turmoil for businesses. Instead of postponing its final parting with the bloc because of the coronavirus, the U.K. government has so far ruled out any delay.

The deal sees a team of five fee insolvency practitioners transfer Grant Thornton to Begbies Traynor, a UK consulting group dedicated to restructuring and turnaround services, Consultancy.uk reported. The quintet are taking along around 500 Scottish insolvency cases to their new employer, and an fee income to the tune of £600,000 per annum.

One of the UK’s biggest investors in smaller companies is planning a £15bn fund to help bail out thousands of businesses that will struggle to repay state-guaranteed coronavirus loans, the Financial TImes reported. Stephen Welton, chief executive of Business Growth Fund, which is backed by the big UK banks, said he was talking to investors, the government and his shareholders about proposals for the public-private fund.

Boris Johnson plans to re-set his government’s agenda with a major speech and a financial statement to prepare the U.K. for the new reality after the coronavirus pandemic, Bloomberg News reported. Amid forecasts of the worst recession in 300 years, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak is drawing up options to bolster the economy after the government withdraws its vast package of financial support in the months ahead, according to people familiar with the matter.

UK banks are warning that up to half of the £18.5bn of “bounce back” coronavirus loans are unlikely to be repaid and are lobbying the chancellor to prepare for the collapse of hundreds of thousands of small businesses, the Financial Times reported. Three senior bankers estimated between 40 per cent and 50 per cent of the 608,000 borrowers who have accessed the Bounce Back Loan Scheme, or BBLS, could eventually default on the debt as the prospect of a quick economic recovery fades.

PizzaExpress is planning to launch a pasta brand to bring in extra revenue amid negotiations over its large debt pile and the possible closure of some of its restaurants, the Financial Times reported. The chain’s owners, Chinese private equity firm Hony Capital, are considering options for its future, including a “company voluntary arrangement”, an administration process that would allow the business to reduce its costs by closing some of its 627 restaurants.