21st Apr 2015 13:48
LONDON (Alliance News) - Ladbrokes PLC Tuesday said is aiming to restructure its loss-making Republic of Ireland business in a move expected to result in redundancies at all levels of the operation.
Ladbrokes had been reviewing its options in Ireland after the business saw declines of 11% in revenue and 57% in operating profit in 2014.
In a statement, Ladbrokes said that an application has been submitted to the High Court in Dublin to enter a process known as examinership.
"Under Irish Law the examinership process provides court protection to enable the examiner of Irish companies to put together a Scheme of Arrangement with creditors with a view to allowing the company to trade as a sustainable business going forward. It is estimated the process will last up to 100 days," Ladbrokes said.
Ladbrokes Chief Executive Jim Mullen said that the move is designed to safeguard the Irish business as it is "not sustainable".
Mullen went on to say that the Irish business has "lost its competitive edge" and cannot be supported by the group without "radical change".
"This step has been taken in the best long term interests of Ladbrokes Ireland, its employees, customers, partners and shareholders. In entering the process, our aim is to build a sustainable and competitive business based in Ireland, run from Ireland, investing in Ireland and supporting the Irish economy and sporting industry while delivering for shareholders," Mullen said.
Ladbrokes has 196 shops in the Republic of Ireland, compared with 216 at the end of 2013, and employs 840 people there.
Depending on the views of the examiner appointed, Ladbrokes said that redundancies are a likely outcome of the restructuring.
The total number of job losses will depend of the outcome of estate restructuring.
Ladbrokes said its digital and telephone businesses won't be impacted.
Ladbrokes shares were up 2.9% at 106.02 pence in London on Tuesday afternoon.
By Samuel Agini; [email protected]; @samuelagini
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