Mamas & Papas to shutter stores in pre-pack administration deal
Maternity retailer Mamas & Papas has called in administrators in order to shutter loss-making stores just days after the collapse of rival firm Mothercare.
Bluegem Capital, the owner of Mamas & Papas since 2014, has regained control through a pre-pack administration – an insolvency procedure – which has allowed the retailer to close six unprofitable stores.
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Mamas & Papas branches in Aberdeen, Preston, Milton Keynes, Lincoln, Leamington and Fareham have closed and 73 employees have been made redundant.
A further 54 jobs are at risk as the retailer reviews its head office operations in Huddersfield.
Mamas & Papas executive chairman Riccardo Cincotta said: “These actions are always difficult but they are also necessary in a challenging market to ensure Mamas & Papas achieves its considerable future potential.”
He added: “We will continue to review our store portfolio in the light of customers’ changing behaviour and we remain fully committed to an omni-channel offering that reflects their evolving needs.”
Bluegem Capital managing partner Marco Capello said the pre-pack insolvency process had put Mamas & Papas on a “solid platform”.
The store closures and redundancies come as a further blow to the struggling UK high street, which has seen a string of high profile retailers collapse this year.
More than 2,500 jobs are at risk after Mothercare’s UK business entered administration on Wednesday.
Read more: Three reasons behind Mothercare’s collapse
The administrator, PwC, announced it will implement a phased closure of Mothercare’s 79 UK stores after management decided that they were not profitable and no buyer could be found.
Increasing competition from supermarkets and online retailers and a failure to invest in its own online operation were cited as factors in the maternity and baby retailer’s downfall.
Main image credit: Getty