The audit watchdog has delayed a decision on whether to bring enforcement action against KPMG over its work on collapsed outsourcing giant Carillion, citing an exceptionally large and complicated investigation, the Financial Times reported. The Financial Reporting Council said it would miss a self-imposed deadline to complete its probe into audit work carried out by KPMG, which was initially due this month. It will instead make a decision on whether to bring disciplinary proceedings against KPMG, which could include a hefty fine, this summer.

A rescue deal for British Steel has edged closer after bidder Jingye received support from regional authorities in China to push through the takeover of the ailing UK steelmaker, the Financial Times reported. The 5,000 workers at the stricken company have been facing an uncertain future after it collapsed into liquidation in May when its owner, the buyout group Greybull Capital, failed to obtain an emergency loan from the UK government. An attempt to sell the group to Ataer Holding, an investment arm of Turkey’s military pension fund, fell through after 10 weeks of exclusive talks.

T5 Oil & Gas, an Africa-focused explorer founded by a group of Tullow Oil veterans, has warned there is a “material uncertainty” over its ability to stay in business for the next year if it fails to raise money to complete a key deal in Gabon after aborting a $45 million (€40.2 million) initial public offering (IPO) in 2018, The Irish Times reported. In spite of this, the UK-based company, led by Irishman Pat Plunkett, said in its 2018 report there was a “reasonable expectation” of carrying out an IPO or finding alternative funding in the first half of this year.

Investors hit by the collapse of Lendy have expressed concerns about the spiralling costs of the administration process after insolvency practitioners warned that they could run up a bill of £2.5 million, The Times reported. Lendy, the peer-to-peer lending service, failed last May owning nearly £152 million to 9,000 investors, some of who now fear that the costs of managing the insolvency will reduce any money they get back. RSM Restructuring recorded time costs worth £1.7 million for the first six months of Lendy’s administration.

British Steel plunged into insolvency 225 days ago. Since then, taxpayers have funded its operational losses of an estimated £1m a day, The Guardian reported. It doesn’t take a mathematician to see that this can only go on for so long; a deal securing the future of the company’s 4,500 staff needs to be agreed – and fast. Chinese steelmaker Jingye has been in pole position since November’s announcement that a deal had been agreed in principle.

UK manufacturing activity “took a turn for the worse” at the end of 2019, with the sharpest deterioration in output in more than seven years as political uncertainty continued to weigh on orders, according to a closely watched survey, the Financial Times reported.

Britain's cap on domestic energy prices saved customers around 1 billion pounds in 2019, but shopping around is still the best way to save money, the government said on Tuesday. The cap on default electricity and gas bills came into effect in January this year and was a flagship policy of former British Prime Minister Theresa May to end what she called "rip-off" prices, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story.

A business which installed hundreds of BT-branded WiFi kiosks across the UK has collapsed into administration after encountering delays in obtaining planning permission, The Telegraph reported. InLink entered administration in November after its attempt to build a network of thousands of smart kiosks on roads across the UK faced opposition from local councils as well as the Metropolitan Police. The business was a joint venture between Intersection, an American advertising business which has been backed by Google’s parent company, and outdoor media company Primesight.

Financial services have been too slow to cut investment in fossil fuels, a delay that could lead to a sharp increase in global temperatures, Bank of England governor Mark Carney has warned, the Irish Times reported. Mr Carney, due to become the United Nations’ special envoy for climate change next year when he steps down from the bank, told BBC radio that global warming could render the assets of many financial companies worthless.

Fears over the impact of a chaotic Brexit left banks in a bind as many small businesses held off on borrowing to invest and nervous households squirrelled away more money – at a time when the European Central Bank (ECB) is charging banks a negative rate of 0.5 per cent to leave excess funds with it, The Irish Times reported. The three bailed-out banks’ combined deposits were €12 billion higher than their loan books in June.