By
Rebecca Gibson |
UK travel agent Thomas Cook has announced that it is to close 200 UK stores over the next two years in a bid to turnaround the struggling business.
The closures come as the firm reported an annual loss of £398 million.
“We have 1,400 shops spread right across the UK, which makes us the strongest high street travel agent in the country,” said Sam Weihagen, Thomas Cook interim chief executive in an interview with the BBC. “Having that strong real estate is a great asset to us but we always have to look into the profitability of each shop. We cannot have shops that aren’t profitable.
“This has been a very challenging year for the group, despite which we still delivered an underlying operating profit of over £300m.”
The firm made headlines in November when its share price fell 75 per cent in one day, forcing the company to secure £200m backing.
It is estimated that the closures will result in 1,000 job losses.