Whether Brexit purists or radical socialists win Britain’s election next month, a deluge of fresh debt is set to bloat the country’s 1.6 trillion pound ($2.1 trillion) government bond pile, Reuters reported. But the permutations around the Dec. 12 election - and the implications for Brexit - make it tough for holders of British government debt to predict just what the borrowing bonanza will mean for them. In 2010, Bill Gross - then cast as “king of the bond market” - warned that British government bonds were “resting on a bed of nitroglycerine” because of Britain’s large budget deficit.

Chilango’s auditor has declined to sign off its accounts six months after the fast-food chain raised £3.7m by selling controversial “burrito bonds” to hundreds of small investors, the Financial Times reported. Chilango has hired restructuring advisers RSM to conduct a full review of its options. It is considering a range of options including raising new capital or a sale as part of a pre-pack administration, according to one person with knowledge of the situation. RSM said it had been engaged to “assist on long-term planning, options and strategy”.

Steinhoff International has sold its UK furniture retailing business to Alteri Investors’ new retail fund as it strives to cut debt, the Financial Times reported. The stores Bensons for Beds, Harveys Furniture and upholstery and bedding manufacturers Relyon have been owned by the troubled South African conglomerate since 2005 but have struggled recently as UK consumers turn more cautious about big-ticket items. In the year to September 2017, the last period for which accounts are available, Bensons and Harveys made a combined operating loss of £28m on sales of £566m.

An attempt by lenders to get PizzaExpress Ltd. to open talks on ways to prop up the troubled restaurant chain has failed to bring its Chinese owner to the negotiating table, Bloomberg News reported. The investors, holding 70% of PizzaExpress’s most senior bonds, sent a letter to the company a week ago pledging to provide new funds, according to people familiar with the matter.

U.K. retail sales unexpectedly fell in October, leaving growth over the last three months at its weakest for 1 1/2 years, Bloomberg News reported. The volume of goods sold in stores and online fell 0.1% from September, the Office for National Statistics said Thursday. That compares with economists’ expectations for a 0.2% increase. Sales excluding auto fuel dropped 0.3%. The figures show U.K. consumers entered the final quarter of the year on a downbeat note as uncertainty over Brexit intensifies.

A plan by the owner of PizzaExpress Ltd. to buy back almost half of the company’s 200 million pounds of unsecured notes faces resistance from at least two groups of bond investors, people familiar with the matter said, Bloomberg News reported. Chinese private equity firm Hony Capital is seeking to purchase as much as 80 million pounds ($103 million) of the U.K. chain’s bonds in a move that may precede talks for a potential debt restructuring.

A Chinese conglomerate’s rescue plan for Britain’s second-biggest steelmaker has been met by doubts from unions and industry insiders who question the buyer’s motives and business logic, the Financial Times reported. Jingye Group, a privately owned Chinese group whose interests span hotels, property, tourism and chemicals alongside steelmaking, agreed to buy British Steel from the UK’s Insolvency Service.

New Look is still suffering from falling sales more than a year after reaching agreement on a restructuring of its store estate, adding to fears about the health of the UK high street as the election campaign gets under way, the Financial Times reported. In the half year to September 28 the fashion retailer said same-store sales were down 7.4 per cent in the UK and Ireland, with a strong summer more than cancelled out by a poor September.

Trips and holidays by Thomas Cook Germany with a departure date of Jan. 1, 2020 or later, "cannot be commenced" even if they had already been partially or fully paid for, the tour operator announced on Tuesday, Xinhuanet reported. "We are so sorry that we have to deliver this message to our customers with departure in the new year," said Stefanie Berk, chairwoman of the management board of Thomas Cook Germany. Among others, the tour operators that are affected were Thomas Cook Signature, Thomas Cook Signature Finest Selection, Neckermann Reisen and Oeger Tours.

PizzaExpress bondholders have warned the restaurant chain that its future is at risk, urging its Chinese owners to work with them on a financial restructuring, the Financial Times reported. A group of investors who own almost 70 per cent of the £465m of senior secured bonds told the board they were willing to provide extra money to secure the business, said two people with familiar with the situation.Their letter asked management to move quickly to restructure the group’s debt-laden balance sheet. Analysts from S&P on Monday said that a “distressed exchange or a debt re