Last month, a tough negotiation between banks and the British government seemed to yield a victory for bonus-bashing politicians: Employees of two partly nationalized banks would be limited to upfront cash bonuses of £2,000 ($3,265) this year, The Wall Street Journal reported. What the government didn't announce was that many employees of the two banks—Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC and Lloyds Banking Group PLC—will have just a short wait for bigger bonus checks.

Troubled music and books retailer HMV saw its chairman resign and its share price hit a record low yesterday after warning it would miss profit targets for the second time this year, The Scotsman reported. The company, which owns Waterstone's as well as a string of live music venues including The Picture House in Edinburgh, said trading had not improved since its last update in January when it warned that poor Christmas sales would leave profits at the lower end of market expectations.

Lloyds Banking Group PLC posted a net loss for 2010 because of its exposure to bad Irish loans, and warned that a slower U.K. economy and higher funding costs will put a lid on growth in net interest margins this year, The Wall Street Journal reported. The British bank said Friday its net loss was £320 million ($516.4 million), compared with a £2.83 billion profit a year earlier when Lloyds benefited from an £11.2 billion "negative goodwill" gain from its takeover of mortgage lender HBOS at the height of the financial crisis. Pretax, precharge profit—a figure closely watched by U.K.

Residential property prices in the U.K. plunged in the wake of the global financial crisis, but an unexpected side effect may be drawing investors into the rental housing market, The Wall Street Journal reported. Traditionally, the British have been predominantly home owners. Early in their careers, people would save just enough to make a down payment on their first home. Similar to the pattern in the United States, home ownership increased as mortgages became easier to get. But that all changed when U.K. banks, stung by deep losses tied to U.S.

The court-appointed trustee overseeing the liquidation of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.'s broker-dealer business is in line for more than $4 billion in a little noticed portion part of a bankruptcy judge's ruling turning aside Lehman's bid to revisit the sale of the business to Barclays PLC, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. In U.S.

British marketing group Aegis said it expects to take a one-off charge of 25 million pounds ($40.4 million) this year to cover the risk that a struggling Spanish client will not be able to settle its bills, Reuters reported. The provision will have no effect on Aegis' underlying results, which will be in line with analysts' current expectations, the company said in a statement on Tuesday. Aegis shares were down 3.1 percent at 141.9 pence by 1456 GMT having earlier fallen as low as 141.2 pence, underperforming the FTSE 250 share index, which was 0.7 percent lower.

Defunct law firm Halliwells owes unsecured creditors more than £190m, according to the latest report from administrators BDO, Legalweek.com reported. To date BDO has received claims worth £191.5m from unsecured creditors. Landlord and lease creditors account for £182.2m of claims received to date, with HM Revenue & Customs the next largest creditor with some £4.3m in taxes and £1.1m in VAT. The debt figure is significantly higher than the £14.1m originally thought to be owed to unsecured creditors.

Struggling British sportswear retailer JJB Sports said it plans to close another 45 stores as it proposed a second company voluntary arrangement (CVA) to creditors in as many years to keep the business afloat, Reuters reported. The firm, in which Bill Gates holds 5.5 percent, said approval from shareholders and creditors of its new CVA would let it continue trading while striking a deal with landlords to close stores and pay only part of the rent.

International rig and drilling contractor KCA Deutag's restructuring neared the finish line Friday as creditors approved a proposal that includes what is believed to be Europe's biggest cash injection into a company since the financial crisis began, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. KCA Deutag's wider senior lender group Friday agreed to be locked into a restructuring deal which includes a $550 million check underwritten by the company's private equity owners, Pamplona Capital Management, and the company's junior creditors. Full approval from creditors follows the Jan.

Bank of Scotland said yesterday it was prepared to restructure the debt of buy-to-let borrowers in Ireland who have fallen deep into negative equity although it said it would only do so in exceptional circumstances, the Irish Times reported. The property crash has left many small-scale property investors in serious financial difficulty as they cannot meet their mortgage repayments or sell their properties for anything close to the sums they paid for them.