Britain has launched a “root and branch” review of its audit watchdog after corporate scandals raised questions about its ability to police how accountants check the books of companies, Reuters reported. The independent review of the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) aims to bolster Britain’s reputation for upholding corporate standards, seen as critical to maintaining the country’s attractiveness for investment after it leaves the European Union next year.

Beleaguered British floor coverings retailer Carpetright has struck an emergency agreement with its lenders to close or exit leases of at least 92 shops in a restructuring that will affect 300 jobs. Carpetright, which has warned on profits three times since December, said it was entering into a creditors’ voluntary arrangement, which is a type of restructuring plan designed to keep businesses out of formal insolvency proceedings, the Financial Times reported.

The final UK stores of children's retailer Toys R Us are to close by April 24, two months after the British arm of the company collapsed into administration, the Financial Times reported. Administrators from insolvency specialist Moorfields Advisory said on Thursday all of the remaining 75 Toys R Us and Babies R Us stores in the UK would close between April 18 and April 24, resulting in the loss of 2,054 jobs. Employees had been informed and would be up to and including their last day, the administrators said.

Avanti Communications, the UK satellite company, has warned that it will be put into administration unless shareholders accept a debt-for-equity swap that would allow it to raise fresh funding, the Financial Times reported. If approved, the proposed swap would leave US bondholders, led by Solus Funds, controlling 42 per cent of the company’s stock. Avanti also wants to amend the terms of bonds due in 2021 and 2023. The plan would reduce its debt by 60 per cent and cut its annual cash interest payments by more than 70 per cent.

United Arab Emirates energy firm Dana Gas said on Sunday it had received a new injunction from the English High Court restricting its ability to pay dividends or increase its debt, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story. The injunction is the latest salvo in a complex legal battle in the UAE and Britain which began last year when Dana halted payments on its $700 million of Islamic bonds, arguing the sukuk had become unlawful because of changes in Islamic finance. Since then, sukuk holders have been trying to force the company to redeem the sukuk.

Retail billionaire Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct International Plc is among bidders for certain Toys “R” Us Inc. stores in the U.K., according to a person familiar with the matter. The group has submitted an offer for some properties backing a 2013 securitization known as Debussy DTC, said the person, who isn’t authorized to talk about it and asked not to be identified, Bloomberg News reported. Private equity firm TPG is also competing for some assets backing the Debussy debt, while Hayfin Capital Management LLP plans to submit a bid or provide financing to potential buyers, said the person.

The former Angolan president’s son and a former central banker are suspected of using accounts at HSBC Holdings PLC and Standard Chartered PLC in an attempt to defraud the country’s central bank by transferring $500 million through these U.K.-based lenders, people familiar with the matter said. The prosecutor’s office in Angola said the money was transferred from Angola’s central bank, allegedly to guarantee a $30 billion financing deal, according to a statement posted on the government website Wednesday, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Conviviality, owner of the Bargain Booze and Wine Rack chains, plans to appoint administrators after it warned on profits, discovered a forgotten tax bill and failed to raise emergency funds, the Financial Times reported. The retailer and wholesaler to pub operations, whose chief executive Diana Hunter stepped down abruptly on March 19, said “the board has resolved to file notice of intention to appoint administrators to the company”. Within the past few weeks, the group has warned on profits twice because of what it said was margin erosion in its wholesale business.

Dominic Chappell, the former bankrupt who bought the failed retailer BHS for £1, is facing a ban on serving as a company director but previous owner Philip Green will avoid a similar fate following an investigation into the chain’s collapse in 2016. The Insolvency Service, a UK government agency, said on Tuesday that it intends to ban Dominic Chappell and three other former BHS directors from serving as company directors for up to 15 years, the Financial Times reported.

A 60-year-old engineering company that was subcontracted by Carillion to work on a school near Liverpool is expected to become the first casualty in the collapsed contractor’s supply chain, the Financial Times reported. About 160 staff at Vaughan Engineering’s three offices in Edinburgh, Warrington and Newcastle are expected to lose their jobs as the company prepares to file for administration. The family-owned business is owed £650,000 for works completed for Carillion. It had also been contracted to complete a further £1.1m of work in the first three months of this year.