Mothercare (MTC) UK business has become the latest high-profile victim of the high street crisis as the baby and maternity retailer said it was entering administration, putting 2,500 jobs at risk. The company said it expected its 79-shop UK chain and online business, which lost £36.3m last year, to be wound down by administrators as it had become clear it could not return to profitability. The administration will not include Mothercare’s profitable overseas operations, which have more than 1,000 stores in over 40 countries. The company, which opened its first store in 1961, said the UK administration filing – which is expected as soon as Tuesday – was a “necessary step in the restructuring and refinancing of the group” after failing to find a buyer.
Shares in UK gambling firms lost nearly £1.2bn in value after the Guardian revealed that MPs had recommended stringent curbs on online casino games worth more than £2bn a year to the industry.MPs from the cross-party group on gambling-related harm, who joined the successful campaign to cut stakes on fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs) to £2, recommended the same limit be applied to web-based slot machine games. The MPs, who include the former Conservative party leader Iain Duncan Smith, are understood to be hopeful they can convince policymakers in No 10 to include tighter controls on gambling firms in the party’s general election manifesto. Markets responded to the MPs’ recommendation by staging a mass sell-off of gambling stocks on Monday. The online-only casino firm 888 Holdings (888) was hardest hit, losing nearly 14% of its value in a day, a slump that cut its market value by £91m. The largest fall in sterling terms was suffered by Ladbrokes’ owner, GVC Holdings (GVC), whose 10.5% fall equates to nearly £547m in lost value, overshadowing the Isle of Man-based firm’s announcement of a new chairman. William Hill (WMH) registered a £230m decline, Paddy Power Betfair’s owner, Flutter Entertainment (FLTR), £217.5m, and GameSys, which makes online slot machine games, £78m.
Ryanair Holdings (RYA) has warned there is “a real risk” it will have no Boeing 737 Max planes flying next summer because of further delays to the delivery of the grounded aircraft. Europe’s biggest carrier is sticking to its plans to cut bases and pilot and cabin crew jobs and said it expected to receive its first 737 Max planes in March or April 2020, two months later than expected. The 737 Max remains grounded worldwide after two crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia killed 346 people. Ryanair’s chief executive, Michael O’Leary, said: “We have now reduced our expectation of 30 Max aircraft being delivered to us in advance of peak summer 2020 down to 20 aircraft and there is a real risk of none.” Ryanair reiterated that this would more than halve its passenger growth rate next summer to 3% from 7%, with the airline carrying 157 million people over the year as a whole rather than 162 million as previously planned.
