Insolvency practitioner Gavin Jones discusses the kind of damages that might be claimed from a holding company or its directors in the event of the insolvency of a subsidiary – and the defences that might be available to mitigate these. With the Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) of House of Fraser reportedly hanging in the balance, the well-publicised difficulties facing the retail sector are widespread, Real Business reported.

Shares of Britain's Interserve Plc dropped as much as 9 percent on Tuesday, as the construction and services company posted a loss in the first-half hurt by higher costs, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story. Interserve reported a loss before tax of 6 million pounds, for the six months ended June 30, compared to a profit before tax of 24.9 million pounds last year. Operating profit fell 30 percent to 40.1 million pounds in the latest half-year.

Steinhoff International Holdings NV relocated two units at the heart of its accounting scandal to the U.K. as the retailer embarks on a new phase of recovery after reorganizing debt, Bloomberg News reported. Steinhoff Europe AG and Steinhoff Finance Holdings GmbH will move from Austria to Cheltenham, England -- where the South African company’s U.K. business is based. The supervisory boards of both units have been redrawn, with Steinhoff Chief Financial Officer Philip Dieperink and Commercial Director Louis du Preez holding positions at the Europe division.

Billionaire Philip Day is in the early stages of a potential bid for British retailer House of Fraser to save it from collapse, Sky News reported on Thursday citing sources. The news comes a day after a rescue deal for House of Fraser was thrown into doubt after C.banner canceled planned fundraising for its deal to become a majority shareholder in the department store, Reuters reported. Day could yet decide not to table a formal proposal to acquire House of Fraser depending upon due diligence and discussions with the company, Sky News said citing one source.

Estate agents aren’t popular at the best of times, but Countrywide Plc, one of Britain’s biggest residential agents, really takes the biscuit. The massively discounted rights issue it announced Thursday will increase the share count by almost six times, a Bloomberg View reported. To nobody’s surprise, the stock plunged almost two-thirds, bringing the decline so far this year to about 85 percent. The share sale is fully underwritten and will raise about 129 million pounds ($169 million) net of fees — a bit more than the market value the previous day.

Profits almost doubled at Serco in the first six months of the year, with the outsourcer heralding the earnings growth as a sign its five-year strategy was yielding results despite “less than ideal” market conditions, the Financial Times reported. A drop-off in contracts sent revenues down almost 9 per cent in the half-year to June from the same period a year earlier to £1.4bn, exacerbated by currency headwinds, as acquisitions failed to offset contracts that came to an end.

House of Fraser is fighting for its survival after the Hong Kong-listed company that also owns toy shop Hamleys abandoned plans to rescue one of the UK’s oldest and more storied retail chains, the Financial Times reported. C.banner International, a Chinese fashion group, said on Wednesday it was “impracticable and inadvisable” to proceed with acquiring a controlling stake in the department store, which would have given the company a £70m lifeline, because of a collapse of its own share price over the past month.

U.K. consumers maintained their appetite for debt in June as the Bank of England considers whether to raise interest rates for only the second time since 2007, Bloomberg News reported. Unsecured lending rose 8.8 percent from a year earlier, the same rate as in the previous two months, the U.K. central bank said on Monday. Consumers added 1.6 billion pounds ($2.1 billion) to their debts in June -- above the average of the previous six months. Credit cards are accounting for an increasing share of consumer credit, outpacing personal loans, overdrafts and car finance, the BOE said.

The number of people in England and Wales filing for insolvency hit a more than six-year high in the second quarter, adding to conflicting economic signals for Bank of England officials as they consider whether to raise interest rates next week, Reuters reported. Seasonally adjusted data from the Insolvency Service showed 28,951 people registered as insolvent between April and June — up 27 percent on a year ago and the largest total since early 2012 when Britain last flirted with recession.

The UK financial regulator is planning to crack down on peer-to-peer lenders and crowdfunding platforms, following concerns that investors could be taking on more risk than they realise, the Finacnial Times reported. In a long-awaited review of the sector published on Friday, the Financial Conduct Authority proposed tougher rules for the peer-to-peer industry, which has grown dramatically in the last decade as banks have retreated from high-risk lending and interest rates have fallen.