Restructuring events
European Restructuring Monitor (ERM)
The restructuring events database contains factsheets with data on large-scale restructuring events reported in the principal national media and company websites in each EU Member State. This database was created in 2002.
The UK-based travel company Thomas Cook has announced that it will close 50 of its shops, putting 400 staff at risk of redundancy. The closures will take place between December 2017 and March 2018. The shops selected for closure belong to the brands Thomas Cook and Co-operative Travel, but their exact locations have not been announced. A spokesperson of the company said that their aim was to redeploy 'a large portion' of staff whose jobs are threatened by the closures.
The Thomas Cook Group operates 690 shops in the UK. The announcement follows a recent business review which has revealed a 40 per cent decrease in the company’s earnings in the first half of the 2017/18 financial year. Echoing the justification given for recent closures of bank branches in the UK, the statement by Thomas Cook said that only 47 per cent of holiday bookings are made in stores, while the share of online sales is increasing.
Eurofound (2017), Thomas Cook, Closure in United Kingdom, factsheet number 92713, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://apps.eurofound.europa.eu/restructuring-events/detail/92713.