Debenhams has cleared a hurdle in its attempt to push through a crucial restructuring plan, dealing a blow to a potential bid for the struggling retailer by Sports Direct chief executive Mike Ashley, the Financial Times reported. The department store chain said it had secured the support of a majority of its bondholders for a series of technical changes that help clear the way for a £200m refinancing. The approval puts Debenhams in a position to confirm the new funding in the coming days and move to pursue restructuring options to secure the future of the business.

Mitie Group Plc is not on the verge of launching a takeover bid for the biggest division of rival Interserve, Chief Executive Officer Phil Bentley said on Thursday, while saying the company would be foolish to “not keep in touch,” Reuters reported. Sky News reported here earlier this month, giving no details of its sources, that Mitie was drawing up plans to offer Interserve's new owners about 100 million pounds ($131.14 million) for its support services unit.

Billionaire Mike Ashley, vying with creditors for control of Debenhams Plc, is considering an offer that would value the troubled U.K. department-store chain’s equity at 61.4 million pounds ($81 million), Bloomberg News reported. Ashley’s Sports Direct International Plc, which already owns about 30 percent of Debenhams, said it’s weighing a bid worth 5 pence a share in cash. Before going firm on his offer, Ashley is demanding that Debenhams name him chief executive officer and halt a loan process, due to finish Thursday, that would lead to greater control for the company’s lenders.

Debenhams Plc once again brushed off billionaire Mike Ashley, who holds almost a third of the ailing department-store operator, saying a proposal to buy the company wouldn’t solve its funding problems, Bloomberg News reported. Ashley’s Sports Direct International Plc said late Monday that it may make a cash offer to buy all the Debenhams shares it doesn’t currently own, as well as new stock.

British Prime Minister Theresa May would find it difficult to take Britain out of the European Union without a Brexit divorce deal after parliament expressed a clear view that it is opposed to this outcome, her spokesman said on Monday. Earlier May told parliament “Unless this House agrees to it, no deal will not happen”, prompting some lawmakers to say she had ruled out a ‘no deal’ exit, Reuters reported.

Struggling British department store group Debenhams said on Friday its shareholders could be wiped out as a result of some of the restructuring options it is considering and rebuffed a bid by Sports Direct to buy its Danish business, Reuters reported. Debenhams has issued a string of profit warnings and lost 90 percent of its market value in the past year. The company is trying to fend off an attempt by its largest shareholder, Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct, to take control of the business.

Theresa May will face up to her own desperately weak political position on Monday as the U.K.’s elected lawmakers move to take over Brexit policy and her own ministers plot to oust her, Bloomberg News reported. The prime minister is under pressure from colleagues inside her Cabinet to name a date when she will step down, with some arguing this would help her win support for her Brexit deal, people familiar with the matter said. May is hoping for one more chance to put the divorce agreement she’s negotiated with the European Union to a vote in the House of Commons this week.

The creditors of UK restaurant chains Giraffe and Ed’s Easy Diner have approved proposals to shut 27 restaurants and renegotiate leases for at least 13 others, the Financial Times reported. More than three quarters of the restaurant’s creditors voted to approve the plan — known as a company voluntary arrangement — which will see nearly a third of the two chain’s 70 restaurants close, putting 340 employees out of work. Sites include prime locations in Manchester, London and Glasgow. Franchised restaurants, of which there are 17, are not affected by the CVA.

The U.K.’s biggest business lobby group took the rare step of joining forces with labor unions to warn Theresa May that she’s presiding over a “national emergency” on Brexit, Bloomberg News reported. Avoiding a no-deal split with the European Union is “paramount” and securing an extension to the process is “essential,” Confederation of British Industry Director General Carolyn Fairbairn and Trades Union Congress General Secretary Frances O’Grady said in a letter. The two also requested an “urgent meeting” with the prime minister. “Our country is facing a national emergency,” they wrote.

British builder Kier Group on Wednesday reported a 14.5 percent slump in first-half underlying earnings on higher expenses, a day after it hired former Carillion CEO-designate to run the company, Reuters reported. Underlying operating earnings fell to 51.8 million pounds for the six months ended Dec. 31 from 60.6 million pounds, as administrative costs jumped nearly 35 percent to 202 million pounds during the period.