UK manufacturers reported cutting jobs at the fastest pace since 2012 as they were “squeezed between a rock and hard place”, and reducing their stocks as new orders faltered, according to a closely watched industry survey, the Financial Times reported. The IHS Markit/CIPS Purchasing Managers’ Index for manufacturing slipped to 48.9 in November, down from 49.6 in October, but above the earlier flash estimate of 48.3.

Peer-to-peer lender Zopa in on track to secure a £130m capital lifeline it needs to become a challenger bank days just before its conditional banking licence expires, the Financial Times reported. Britain’s oldest peer-to-peer lender is hoping to clinch the funding from an entity linked to IAG Capital Partners, a US-based fund, and its UK investment vehicle Silverstripe early next week, according to a person close to the matter. The deal, first reported by Sky News on Saturday, would close just before Zopa’s banking licence expires on Tuesday.

PizzaExpress Ltd. is something of a British national treasure having delivered quasi-Italian cuisine to the High Street for 54 years, a Bloomberg View reported. It’s found itself in a battle for survival in the U.K.’s uber-competitive “casual dining” arena, and has consequently been caught up in a proper tussle in the bond market. Commercially, the restaurant chain is battling on two fronts: that ferocious fight in its domestic market and coping with an unsuccessful expansion in China. Comparable sales outside of the U.K. fell 7.5% last year.

German energy group Innogy on Thursday said it was continuing to lose clients in Britain, where a price cap has increased pressure on the ‘Big Six’ energy providers, Reuters reported. Npower, Innogy’s British retail unit, lost 261,000 customers during the third quarter, bringing total customer losses to 447,000 so far this year. The division posted a nine-month adjusted operating loss of 167 million euros ($184 million). Npower’s problems will soon be an issue for German utility E.ON.

Wrightbus, the Ballymena bus builder, owed Bank of Ireland £38.1 million (€44.7 million) on the day it collapsed, and administrators have warned that the bank will not be repaid “in full,” The Irish Times reported. However, Invest NI, the North’s regional business development agency, which was owed £2.5 million, will get back all of the money it lent the business, according to administrators from Deloitte.

The owner of Manchester's Trafford Centre has hired advisers to work on a critical restructuring of its balance sheet as it prepares to tap investors for new capital. Sky News has learnt that Intu Properties has drafted in PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to work alongside its existing City advisers, Sky News reported. The appointment, which is understood to have been made in the last few days, comes ahead of a crucial Christmas period for Intu and rival shopping centre-owners such as Hammerson.

There’s been an uptick in the number of manufacturing companies entering insolvency, according to new research from accountancy Moore, East Midlands Business Link reported. The firm found that in the last year, there has been a 7% rise to 1,466 in manufacturing companies entering insolvency – a five-year high. The research identified that this was driven partly by uncertainty surrounded Brexit coupled with a broader slowdown across the continent. “The latest figures show that the doom and gloom around the UK’s manufacturing sector continues,” said Robert Branch from Moore.

Banknote printer De La Rue warned on Tuesday of “significant doubt” that it can continue as a going concern and said it would scrap its dividend to tackle mounting debt, sending its shares to their lowest in two decades, Reuters reported. The news follows a series of setbacks, including two profit warnings, an investigation into suspected corruption in South Sudan and the loss of a 400 million pound ($513.20 million) contract for Britain’s new passports.

Chinese private equity group Hony Capital plans to tighten its grip on PizzaExpress with an agreement to buy an additional £80m of its bonds at a steep discount, giving it more control over any restructuring of the UK restaurant chain’s debts, the Financial Times reported. The move, which was opposed by some debt holders over concerns they could be marginalised, makes a restructuring more likely, analysts said. PizzaExpress, which was bought by Hony in a £900m leveraged buyout in 2014, revealed a debt pile of £1.1bn in its annual report in April.

Weak UK banking and wealth management performances dragged on Investec’s first-half profit, piling pressure on the Anglo-South African financial services firm’s shares, Reuters reported. Investec said on Thursday the spin-off of its asset management division next year was on track, a plan that will leave it with just banking and wealth management operations. Shares in Investec are down by almost 10% following a profit warning in September, and were around 2.5% lower in both London and Johannesburg by 0823 GMT.