U.K. hotel operator Whitbread Plc and leather-goods maker Mulberry Group Plc reported lower sales in their home market as the uncertainty around Brexit erodes business prospects, Bloomberg News reported. Whitbread said Wednesday that first-quarter comparable sales dropped 3.7%. Mulberry reported U.K. revenue fell 6% in the year through March, driving it to a 5 million-pound ($6.3 million) pretax loss. The reports add to a litany of U.K.

The Central Bank will be able to fine and disqualify senior bankers for failings under their watch without first proving wrongdoing by their employers under planned new laws being drawn up in the wake of the tracker-mortgage scandal, The Irish Times reported. More than a decade after the financial crash and three years after Britain introduced a senior manager regime, Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe received the go-ahead from Cabinet on Tuesday to push through similar measures in the Republic. It is expected to come into force from next year.

Bosnia’s aluminium smelter Aluminij Mostar is seeking a strategic partner to avoid bankruptcy and a consortium led by London-listed miner and commodity trader Glencore has shown interest, its general manager said on Monday, Reuters reported. Aluminij, based in Bosnia’s southern town of Mostar and one of the Balkan country’s biggest exporters, has been in trouble for years over heavy debt accumulated because of high alumina and electricity prices.

Kier is to cut 1,200 jobs and sell large chunks of its business as a crisis of confidence in the UK government contractor’s financial position forces it to begin paying suppliers in advance, the Financial Times reported. Andrew Davies, chief executive, said the company had briefed the government’s Cabinet Office, which accounts for 60 per cent of revenues, ahead of an announcement on Monday in which it said it would divest its mainly private sector-focused businesses in housing, property development, environmental consultancy and facilities management. “We are in regular di

Shares in Britain’s Kier fell more than 35% on Friday to a record low after the Times newspaper reported the construction and services group was rushing to sell its housebuilding business at a discount to cut mounting debt, Reuters reported. The report was the latest setback for the group, which has contracts for major projects including London’s Crossrail link, following a profit warning last week. The shares fell as much as 36.3% to 129 pence by 1415 GMT, the lowest since it listed in 1996, erasing all of the 24% gains made since Kier’s profit warning on June 3.

Thousands of customers of two failed pension providers can now claim for losses after the Financial Services Compensation Scheme declared the firms in default, the Financial Times reported. GPC Sipp and Lifetime Sipp are the latest in a string of private pension operators to collapse, prompting a wave of compensation claims at the FSCS. The FSCS, which provides a safety net for customers of failed investment businesses, said it was accepting claims against GPC Sipp, which was placed into administration on Tuesday.

Faced with the choice of accepting rent cuts or hunting for new retailers to fill hundreds of stores, U.K. mall owners are swallowing their medicine, Bloomberg News reported. Some of Britain’s biggest commercial landlords including Hammerson Plc and British Land Co., voted in favor of a rescue plan for billionaire Philip Green’s Arcadia Group that meant having to accept dozens of store closures and rent cuts of at least 25% at almost 200 sites.

Boris Johnson, the leading candidate to become the U.K.’s next prime minister, laid out his plan to take the country out of the European Union by Oct. 31, if necessary without a divorce deal to smooth Britain’s exit, The Wall Street Journal reported. During a speech Wednesday launching his campaign, the former foreign secretary said he would seek to renegotiate Britain’s exit deal with the EU. At the same time, he would launch preparations across the country to weather a “no-deal” exit that many businesses and economists say would severely damage the economy.

Glencore has hoisted the “for sale” sign over the Chad-focused oil business it acquired five years ago as the miner and commodity trader looks to bolster a share buyback programme by selling non-core assets, The Irish Times reported. The London-listed group, run by Ivan Glasenberg, bought Caracal Energy for $1.6 billion (€1.4 billion) in 2014 as part of a plan to grow its African oil business and secure barrels for its muscular trading arm. However, the deal was completed just before oil prices peaked and Glencore was subsequently forced to take a series of impairment charges.

Philip Green’s Arcadia fashion group has secured backing for a controversial restructuring plan after a meeting of creditors voted to approve it, The Irish Times reported. The owner of brands such as Topshop and Wallis needed three-quarters of its unsecured creditors to back the plan, known as a company voluntary arrangement. At a meeting in London, Arcadia received that – although the company did not immediately divulge by what margin. The move clears the way for 23 of its 566 stores across Ireland and UK to close outright, with rents reduced by up to 70 per cent on 194 more.