Administrators for collapsed UK brokerage Beaufort Securities have defended their plans to use customer funds to cover the cost of the insolvency proceedings, in the face of an angry backlash, the Financial Times reported. Beaufort was shut by UK regulators in March, just hours before the US Department of Justice brought criminal charges against the company for its alleged involvement in securities fraud and money laundering.

Administrators for Beaufort Securities, the disgraced UK broker that was closed down by regulators in March, have said it could cost as much as £100m to return the cash and assets held by the company, currently valued at £550m, to its thousands of private investor clients, the Financial Times reported.

The Financial Services Compensation Scheme has declared mortgage broker Blevins Franks Mortgage Services in default. Blevins Franks was a trading name of Mortgage Partner Services Limited of Regents Park Road, London. The firm has also traded as Blackstone Franks Mortgage Services Limited. The FSCS says the firm went into default in March and that consumers can get their money back as a result of dealing with a failed firm. Read more. (Subscription required.)

The plot to reverse Brexit is missing a key ally: U.K. business. Companies have been among the most outspoken critics of the split from the European Union, and many have much to lose from the divorce. But as a group of lawmakers tries to engineer a second referendum, business leaders are recoiling. Worse than Brexit is prolonged uncertainty. “Business likes certainty and I can’t see how discussion of a second referendum helps create that certainty when the negotiations are not even concluded," Miles Celic, chief executive officer of TheCityUK, said in an interview with Bloomberg News.

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.