The administrator to BHS, the British department store group that is battling to stay in business, has received "around 50" expressions of interest for all or various parts of the retailer, a source with knowledge of the process said on Thursday, Reuters reported. Although the level of interest sounds encouraging, analysts see little prospect of a buyer emerging for the whole of BHS. They say the most likely scenario is that BHS's assets will be sold off piecemeal.

One of Britain's iconic tailoring brand Austin Reed has collapsed into administration, or insolvency, putting more than 1,000 jobs at risk, The Economic Times reported. The 116-year-old tailoring brand, which once counted former British prime minister Winston Churchill and Elizabeth Taylor among its customers, appointed AlixPartners today to explore options for the business after it ran out of cash.

British lawmakers expect to question retail billionaire Philip Green in the course of an inquiry into failed department store chain BHS's pension liabilities after the firm was put into administration on Monday, Reuters reported. The Work and Pensions Committee launched the investigation on Tuesday. Asked if the chairman of the committee, opposition Labour lawmaker Frank Field, would invite Green to be questioned, Field's office said: "He's very sure he will be invited." Green sold BHS last year for one pound to a collection of little known investors called Retail Acquisitions.

British department stores group BHS collapsed into administration on Monday, putting about 11,000 jobs at risk. Philip Duffy and Benjamin Wiles, managing directors of Duff & Phelps, have been appointed joint administrators, the restructuring firm said. “The group will continue to trade as usual whilst the administrators seek to sell it as a going concern,” it said. BHS employs about 8,000 people, while 3,000 contractors work with the 88-year-old firm which has 164 stores.

How might future historians judge a British decision to leave the EU in the referendum on June 23? It might well be seen as the moment when the west started to unravel, the Financial Times reported in a commentary. That is why Barack Obama, US president, is not merely entitled to present his views on “Brexit”. As leader of the west, he must do so. The choice the UK faces in June is whether to exercise its option to leave the EU now. So long as it is a member, it will always have this option. But it will not be granted the choice to rejoin after it has left.

The British government outlined the central argument on Monday it hopes will persuade voters to stay in the European Union, publishing a detailed economic analysis finding that Britons will be poorer if they quit, the International New York Times reported. The release of the publication by the Treasury, complete with complex algebraic calculations, is an important moment before a referendum, to take place June 23, on whether Britain should end more than four decades of integration and quit the 28-nation bloc.

The number of British manufacturers who are struggling financially has risen by 20%, with food and drinks companies hardest hit – despite the weak pound making UK exports cheaper abroad, The Guardian reported. Data from the insolvency firm Begbies Traynor showed that 21,061 UK manufacturers, many of which rely heavily on exporting, ended the first quarter of this year in a state of significant financial distress – 20% more than a year ago.

Royal Bank of Scotland is to close 32 of its NatWest branches and cut 600 jobs in the bailed-out bank’s latest attempt to save costs and respond to customers’ increased use of digital banking, The Guardian reported. The job cuts will be in clerical roles at the bank, which is 73% owned by the taxpayer, including 200 posts in the London area and 400 across the north and the Midlands. The Unite union said it intended to fight any move towards compulsory redundancies by the bank, which was bailed out with £45bn of taxpayer money in 2008 and 2009.

The Bank of England issued its clearest warning yet that a British exit from the European Union would probably hurt the economy and cause sterling to slide, angering pro-Brexit campaigners. The warning comes two days after the International Monetary Fund said the world economy would suffer if Britain voted in its referendum on June 23 to leave the EU. "Such a vote might result in an extended period of uncertainty about the economic outlook, including about the prospects for export growth," the BoE said. "This uncertainty would be likely to push down on demand in the short run ...

The International Monetary Fund said Tuesday that a British exit from the European Union risks severely damaging the global economy, adding its voice to an intense debate ahead of the country’s June referendum on the question, The Wall Street Journal reported. The Washington-based fund listed the possibility of Britain leaving the EU as one of seven major risks to the global economy in the year ahead, alongside worries over the health of the Chinese economy and turbulence in financial markets.