La Perla, the indebted Italian lingerie brand owned by Lars Windhorst’s investment company, will list its shares on the Paris stock exchange to help access capital at a difficult time, Bloomberg News reported. La Perla, which has stores in London’s Sloane Street and St. Tropez, won’t raise any funds through the move, but the listing “will increase La Perla’s visibility and enhance access to capital," according to Chief Executive Officer Pascal Perrier. The company aims for a market capitalization of 473 million euros ($520 million) when shares are set to begin trading Friday in Paris.

Mallinckrodt Plc has hired restructuring firms and may choose to seek bankruptcy protection, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday, sending the drugmaker’s shares down 40% in after-hours trading, Reuters reported. The company has hired law firm Latham & Watkins LLP and consulting firm AlixPartners LLP to advise on the matter, Bloomberg reported, citing people with knowledge of the situation. Mallinckrodt, which has a market value of about $218 million, declined to comment on the report.

Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc Chairman Howard Davies shrugged off the prospect of a Labour-led U.K. government re-nationalizing all of the state-backed lender as the chances of an election grow more likely, Bloomberg News reported. Davies said in a Bloomberg Television interview that any Labour government led by Jeremy Corbyn would have other things on its mind, saying the nationalization of water utilities and railways seemed more probable.

Germany’s export-dependent economy is suffering from a Brexit shock that along with the rise in global trade tensions and structural changes in the car industry, threatens to push Europe’s economic powerhouse into recession, the Financial Times reported. In the three months to June, exports to Britain dropped 21 per cent quarter on quarter, the biggest fall since the financial crisis a decade ago, contributing to the 0.1 per cent quarter-on-quarter contraction in GDP that Germany experienced in the same period.

Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct is funding a legal challenge against Debenhams to drive it out of business and “pick up its assets on the cheap”, it was claimed in the High Court on Monday, the Financial Times reported. Sports Direct, founded by billionaire Mr Ashley, is financing a High Court lawsuit brought by six landlords that are challenging restructuring proposals which the UK retailer’s creditors overwhelmingly approved in May after Debenhams was bought out of administration by its lenders.

The UK government will hold an emergency meeting with senior bankers in Westminster next Thursday to try to co-ordinate plans to limit the impact of a no-deal Brexit on small businesses, the Financial Times reported. Andrea Leadsom, the business secretary, Michael Gove, the minister in charge of no-deal preparations, and City minister John Glen are all expected to attend, along with executives from the country’s largest business lenders and industry group UK Finance, according to multiple people briefed on the meeting.

The Insolvency Practitioners Association has announced it will investigate the company voluntary arrangement organised to cut the debts of Bury, who were expelled by the English Football League on Tuesday, The Guardian reported. The IPA said its decision to “consider the operation of the CVA”, followed concerns expressed in the Guardian by the Bury North MP, James Frith, and the Football Supporters’ Association. Frith has said he assumes it will also be “standard practice” that the Insolvency Service, a government agency, will investigate.

Economic sentiment in the UK dropped to its lowest level in seven years in August on the back of weak services and a slump in confidence in the retail sector, the Financial Times reported. Monthly figures from the European Commission showed that while the eurozone had arrested the decline in its economic sentiment, it continued to fall fast in the UK. The figures highlight the fragility of the UK economy as the Brexit deadline approaches, and were particularly weak among retailers, who recorded the lowest level of confidence for just over a decade.

Specialist lender Amigo has warned it will change its business model to head off a regulatory crackdown, sending its shares plunging more than 50 per cent on Thursday, the Financial Times reported. The UK company, which lends to people with poor credit ratings as long as they have someone to step in should they fail to repay, has drawn the scrutiny of the Financial Conduct Authority over concerns that its customers risk becoming trapped as repeat borrowers on interest rates of close to 50 per cent.

A combination of business taxes and higher staff costs hit first-half profits at PizzaExpress, prompting the UK chain to scale back its expansion plans, the Financial Times reported. The group, which helped pioneer casual dining in the UK, pinned the blame on “industry-wide cost pressures” as it reported that earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation fell almost 8 per cent to £32.4m in the six months to the end of June.