Ladbrookes Ireland.

Ladbrokes seeks High Court protection from creditors

Bookmaker warns of job losses as it seeks to rescue its loss-making business

Bookmaker Ladbrokes Ireland, is seeking High Court protection from its creditors and warns it will have to cut jobs in a bid to rescue the loss-making business.

London-listed Ladbrokes, said on Tuesday that the High Court has appointed Ken Fennell as interim examiner to three Irish subsidiaries, Ladbroke (Ireland), Ladbroke Leisure and Dara Properties.

The court has also granted them protection, effectively barring creditors from enforcing any debts against the three companies for up to three months.

The companies’ directors applied to the court for its protection and for Mr Fennell’s appointment.

“The decision to seek examinership follows several years of declining profits in Ladbrokes Ireland culminating in a loss after interest and tax of over €5 million in the last financial year,” a statement said.

Ladbrokes plc chief executive, Jim Mullen, described the action as regrettable but absolutely necessary to safeguard the Irish business.

“This step has been taken in the best long term interests of Ladbrokes Ireland, its employees, customers, partners and shareholders,” he added.

Ladbrokes Ireland retail director, Jackie Murphy, warned that the examinership is likely to lead to the loss of some of its 840 jobs.

“We are fully committed to work with all our staff through this difficult time and would hope that the vast majority of any necessary redundancies will be voluntary,” he said.

Examinership allows troubled or insolvent companies, with a reasonable prospect of survival, up to 100 days to come up with a rescue plan.

Ladbrokes stressed in its statement that it will be business as usual for its 196 betting shops, while its digital and telephone betting operations will not be affected.

Thanks TTK,that's the one.

I hope Hayley kept her amateur licence from the charity race. She might need a new career.

God forgive me but i'd say a lot of the lads would leave her off out in front.
Share price for them is up despite that.

With a company profile like Ladbrooks I assume the largest creditor by a long way is Revenue. They'll use the examinership process to cut staff, streamline operations and do a deal on their tax liabilities.

I wouldn't be terribly worried about their future, at least for the next 12 months.

While I am not worried at a personal level, I would be pessimistic if I was relying on a job there. Ladbrokes threw shops at towns to try and compete with Powers and cash in on FOBT's and I wouldn't be surprised if their outlets were reduced by up to 75%, I remember predicting a bloodbath in the bricks and mortar bookmakers market on here before Yates's outfit went to the wall, though I thought that Bruce would be the first casualties, though I think they may be next. It must be years since I went into a shop to have a bet, though I was been in Power's with a friend and recently and it struck me as a place for people with nowhere else to go.

While it is clear shops and most serious punting have little in common my own recent visit (PP) left me pondering the wholesale popularity of football coupons. A large percentage of those popping in and out all collected football coupons and only the habitues were paying any attention to racing.

You can have every bet you wish on "real" TV roulette every 4 or 5 minutes, watch obscure sporting events live and back a cartoon horse or hound as you pause for breath. (On the day-one of Cheltenham-I was curiously noting that the number 23 had come up 6 times from 10 in 20/30 minutes)

Longer opening hours for the staff, minimum wages, poor air conditioning, drunk customers and people prepared to bet on the two flies on the medite it might be a blessing in disguise for some to be let go.

No tears for the parent company here or for any of the highfliers of the stock exchange. I wonder is it part of a strategy in part to wind rents down (or lay off "troublesome" staff) as surely any Irish operation would have to be bailed out by the parent company? Losing €5m after interest -forget the tax - wouldn't seem a large amount for a business its size.

Pecker Dunne will be making a statement shortly.  Standby.

RA the examiner has also been appointed over a connected company (Dara Properties). The purpose of this company is to let properties out. I suspect that this company purchased many of the sites Ladrookes shops occupy and subsequently rents the shops to the parent company. Therefore, it won't have any opportunity to reduce rents on any such property.

It's clear from their locations the product positioning Ladbrokes has sought to occupy (working class mugs largely). I live at the edge of a triangle of the Big Three in D4 and they come out much the worst in terms of passing custom from what I observe.

Well I for one will be sad to see them leave.

I found them quite good for taking a bet way better than boils and think their guaranteed prices between 12 and one for multiples are good esp with 3 times odd for luck 15's

Not to offend you limestone lad but you must lose plenty Fu ck Ladcrooks I detest them also insurance companies good at taking your money but hate paying out. I hit em last year Ascot for just over 14K. Now I'm limited to £50 a bet I could always stick a grand in a machine for some strange reason no problem with that Fu ck em I wish them all the bad luck in the world.

Actually banned from the pp shop in the town but ladbrokes quite good and have always found them way better than both pp and boils but heh if you have taken them for 14 grand what do you expect

People in charge of property and leasing for Ladbrokes need to take a good hard look at themselves.

To carry on punting mate, they indirectly helped me keep most of it. Had I been able to continue they'd of got it back in about two months had great pleasure telling them I'd only given them about 2K back Even the big races now if your looking for the value you'll see them limiting their so called offers to as low as £25, fu cking joke from a so called major bookies. Funny enough I find PP OK in general. Betfred is about the best or should I say best pick out of a bad bunch

Is it any wonder their up sh!t creek, in any other walk of life if you restrict your principle trade how will you show a profit imagine having a greengrocer and telling your punters "No you can't have six apples, you can have two" you wouldn't last long. Not only have they lost their big punters, their p!ssing off their two bob punters. Their so called loyalty card (Tracking device) they used to give a pound a point, now it's £4 a for a point how are these old fella's having their 10p yankee's ever going to get their free bet ? Bunch of cu nts run by bigger cu nts !

The spin they are trying to put on it is they are tied into monster rents and this is their only way out.

On a point of information , does Ladbrokes ( Ireland)  stop at the border ? ie does it exclude the shops in the North ?

The alleged £135 million they paid for the 46 Eastwoods shops valued each shop at more than 2 million .  Some of them aren't worth a fraction of that  , and I cant think of even one worth over 2 million in better times ( and they have FOBT's in the North ). Barney got out nicely , fair play to him .

kelly -- they have 79 shops up north and 196 as stated already in the south. So with that in mind safe to assume the process of possible bankruptcy is only in southern Ireland ...not sure how much cash they have on hand anymore.

be a hassle getting paid from them id imagine these days  - anyone betting big should avoid this place.



this firm ladbrokes are on their knees right now, shops are a mess.
boyles and powers --at least the shops are nice and most of the staff are ok to deal with .

what about if judge does not grant exminership??
- ladbrokes want to stop cash leaving business hence dont want to pay their landlords or any other service providers on time & probably Irish Revenue  ...  --any how these so called jobs are minimum wage jobs same pay as Dunne stores etc no big deal really... Ladbrokes should be made pay what they owe , and if they have to go they have to go...this firm is a joke , they fired all decent Irish fellas when they decided to bring their risk trading back to uk..look where that got them ..

i mean many other businesses were not given the opportunity to do this ..they had to wind it up

Ladbrokes own that other betting exchange,is that in trouble too.

Are our deposits there okay ?

i tell u something i was thinking about that last night --im not sure , i dont have anything over at the daq

but no chance i would leave money in at **** ..zero chance

cash is tight for the whole ladbrokes group right now  -- like if you had any sort of money on deposit with them ..u would be a wise man to take it out...

Any right minded person would not have moeny with these clowns right now ...just common sense

whats the point when you know powers and boyles are in a much better financial nick-- u know this because they are managed better..shops are in way better condition and they have better product plus staff a little more friendly

I'd be highly surprised if the examinership process isn't successful. Judges are typically loathe to reject the proposals if they are somewhat realistic and Revenue is likely to be the only objector. Where landlords don't want to play ball they will simply hand back the properties.

After the release of the UK's figures the longer term future of the group must be called into question. A sleeker operation post-examinership Irish operation could prove attractive to investors.

Betquack is owned by the English PLC and wouldn't be affected by the Irish company (notwithstanding they are based together) entering examinership. Client deposits are also supposed to be ringfenced in trust accounts. The optics won't do much for it though.

If you press "about us" directly under "multibet" on the home page it gives you what they say they are doing in regards protection of customers money,not unduly worried about it myself but tend to withdraw and deposit as needs must,a large amount i'd tend to be cautious now.
Glad there is someone else on there,i thought t'was just me and the robot these days.

Leave your money with paddy powers and boyles where you can bet freely as long as you havent an iota what you are doing....
Your money is ring fenced with powers as long as you are no danger to them.....if you are then they wont let you play.....
****q is actually the only gambling site where you can bet online and are allowed win.
I love when fools come on saying why dont you just use the exchange by which they mean betfair.....do they not realise that winners pay a tax on betfair which makes it unviable unless you already know the result.....

You aren't wrong there Paulie, still at times tis almost like begging to get matched at even a couple of ticks less until late in any market,it really was the case of what could have been with it,the firms penny pinching in regards commission and a good over round in a lot of markets like say golf will at best stagnate them.

horses arent too bad at all on the daqq......sports are not great..... and particularly poor when something is in play....
The only thing i can say is id rather back one at 2.92 than 2.96 as long as i wasnt liable for a 40% winners tax.....

I know what you are saying,you might have an edge on the platform here and never mind 40% or 20%/10% for that matter,it becomes unworkable with their "tax".
5.25 @ fairyhouse,the daq has struck 3 bets on two horses at this stage for roughly a £120 stake between them,the offer on Bog War is 4.4(here 4.6) you would in all likelyhood get the 4.6 there if asked, roughly 2.7k matched on the same race on here which shows the gulf in terms of business conducted,a shame.

u do understand u can use other peoples accounts to get around any prem charge....



was talking about getting on in the shops with boyles and powers -no bargain at the best of time if u are betting the right stuff , however not worth the hassle with ladbrokes for anything now

Kerrygold that would be a grey area and probably best not talked about on here,shouldn't really be a need for that in a lot of pc cases as morally most have done nothing wrong and are victims of corporate greed pure and simple.

kerrygold.....go and try use other peoples accounts and see how easy it is....
It is not easy and anybody who says it is has never done it.....
There are a whole host of problems which occur when this practice takes place.....
1. Cant log on from an already monitored IP adress...
2. A marked difference in style of betting is monitored....
3. A losing account that starts to turn  a profit is monitored..
4. You have to have alot of trust in the person whos account you are using....
5. Not everybody wants large amounts of money moving in and out of their bank account.
6. It can often take days to load up and weeks to withdraw....
Apart from all that its no problem at all....

I lived in the UK for a year and had a sterling account closed by them so they monitor well. Don't know why they bothered as I'm nowhere near ever qualifying for premium charge. In fact, they should be erecting a fckin statue to me.

As for Ladbrokes, I think as TTK mentioned, this is nothing only taking the opportunity to streamline and close shops that should nevr have opened in the first place. While they're at it, they probably need to re-brand and refurbish their Irish arm entirely. The gurriers love the Irishness of Boyles & especially Powers. I don't think 'the ladbrokes life' really works here, the boys in that are winning but they're doing nothing that your common or garden Limerick knacker can't do provided he has moved on his package, remembered to sign on and hasn't completely blown his load on the Saffer Racing or Paddy Park.

Anyone else find that the girls in Powers are usually better looking as well?

This will be a very straightforward examinership as given the appetite in this country, it would be near impossible for a judge to find it nonviable.

paulie

ive used and use plenty of accounts -- really comes down to trust and a vpn which u must hav running 24 hours a day.

will admit i have been burnt , at moment owed 300g usd by a third party who is a fcuking deg who had accs at other books - not a nice feeling right now

You must be in the fortunate position to be able to be owed 300,000 and think very little of it......i know if i was owed 300 euro then i wouldnt be very happy.....not to mind the figures you are dealing in.....
In my simple little existence.....being caught for 300k would be a very good reason not to be betting through somebody else's account....
I think id rather pay the winners tax than lose all that money....

Kerrygold must be the punter Kavvie saw having that 800 Grand bet.

when u are betting big numebers , u need big limit acc's , so you go hunting for the vips - problem is most are degens by default so it can be a catch 22....happend over space of 12 weeks.

will be an issue alright as i will prob lose the best info source i ever had over this mess.

however i have other stuff going on too right now thats big so mentally i need to be right , otherwise everything can go down the tubes

Any chance of winner, Kerrygold?

Big Players sometimes have to show rather than tell.  So give us an auld crumb!

Give him nothing Kerrygold,leave him do his own work.

In betting circles one person I heard of got knocked for 10k approx by a "punter" who was doing bets for him .  The same punter was well known to me , saw him every day , continually wanted to "help out" getting bets on for me , but he had "form " , knew him from the dogs ,so I stayed well away other than usual social bookie shop chatter .

But 300 grand is a differnet kettle of fish , implies implicit trust .

A school friend of mine got knocked for nearly half a million in the cattle buying business by his "southern" representative , well known in racing circles . He was warned not to trust the guy concerned , but ignored the warning , nearly put him to the wall as he refused to go bankrupt . Was in the public domain that case .

So it does happen , similarly I know of at least one case where a (still current) racehorse trainer earned 100% for himself on the sale of a horse he was training in the process of "selling on " to a new owner .  Owner and ex owner met one day . Irks me every time I see his face on the telly .

Lapsy, how does that one go again; "I've got you, under my skin......

Try and not be so obviously rattled, old sport.  That level of seething cannot be healthy for anyone.

i think its quite obvious kerrygold is on a different platform to the ordinary punter that frequents this place.....
This man is clearly a serious player.....and i could understand why he wouldnt be too forthcoming to us mere mortals....
I know by wilddans post that he is sceptical of Kerrygold.....but i for one believe him.....

OZ..Eveyone knows if you cut losses and costs , share prices rise...... RISE

RISE..........SRY FELLA............

Isnt that why you hookers....................Cant RISE................

Another brilliant business insight, Pecker, they should have you on Bloomberg TV.  The man who said Ladbrokes was too big and too important to fail.

Its true Oz. It is only a mere hiccup or a good move in reality....

Lots of shops in the UK will close soon.

The companies who own the properties will be in a stronger position...

As for Bloomberg tv....i dont expect to be asked on any time soon.

However the soft, SOFT porn channels will still get a subscription from you no doubt.

I hope it gets you upto it eventually.

Someday you even enjoy sex for free, maybe even with a female.

Laddies were giving out free entry tickets for day 3 of the Punchestown meeting today  in there shops.[ 2 per person]

Was in a Ladcrokes or two today ( no bets ) here in the north , no mention of any freebies .  Maybe not surprising , one of their staff told me that the NI operation was in tandem with the Scottish operation ( or about to be ) .  When logically Lads should operate on an All-Ireland basis , makes you wonder about the logic being applied ( presumably there is logic somewhere involved ) .

Maybe we in the North will be getting offered tickets to Ayr or Perth or somewhere else in Scotland .

some of the shops out my way are supposed to be closing, sad for the staff but no real loss as they layed sfa

Don't tell us the shop in Sallynoggin is closing,I think that's the one that went 8/1 Felix Younger.

I would not know if they went that price or not as i don't use them, and the shop in Ballybrack is the one mooted as going

You couldn't bet the odds on that Premier had a row in that office,hence the dont use them line,probably barred.

I don't use them as I bet greyhounds and they won't lay me, you can ask one of their odds compilers (hunglikeadonkey) who posts on here if you wish

Then again best you just make up some other story as per usual

You do fight a lot with bookmakers so more of a deduction than anything else.

More tales than Enid Blyton

How do you think we know all these things about you.

You told us.

Are you denying you had a row with a bookmaker at Shelbourne Park.

Here is what i have deducted of you Wildman, born with a silver spoon in his mouth and comes from a rich farming background in county Tipp, family rich enough to send him to some sort of 3rd level education and doing his 2nd level in a private school, got into property developing at some stage or was related to someone who set him up in that business, business has failed although wildman claims to have retired, now lives in the Kildare region probably not too far from Naas, owed money to the govt but his pals from FF wrote it off/down before they left office.

I had a dispute with 1 bookmaker in Shelbourne in the past (not the 1 you where claiming a few weeks ago on here), that was resolved and I still bet and talk to said bookmaker

So not quite what you're trying to make out but then nobody will be surprised at that

For a company in administration they don't half have some team in Punchestown.

They have two betting shops and about five bookie stalls in prime positions.
Daragh Fitzpatrick is beside their best stall,he has televisions and credit card machines in operation,I hope no Romanian or Nigerian stumble across him.

On-course operation possibly another different subsidiary company again? Friend of mines nephew has only started working for the very recently and has been told he will be working on-course this summer.

for them*

TTT

Its happened again,a poster trying to prove a point has once again scored an own goal.

I stated half in jest that Premier was a neighbour of Dustin,this made him angry probably because it was accurate,he couldn't bear that so announced he was from Ballybrack.
Asking about the office in Sallynoggin was an extension of the Dustin skit but he doesn't say he lives there,he goes on to discuss the Ballybrack office.

Seems my first deduction was correct.

More lies Borneo, i have never said i live in (or hail as you say) Ballybrack.

I have already posted if you can bring up 1 post where i said i live in Ballybrack i will donate 5k to the Injured Jockey Fund. You cannot do so yet still go on with this charade probably to seek attention. I suppose i really should pity you seen as you're a sad old man, alone in life with no partner and all your kids could not wait to get as far away from you as possible so you make up constant lies on here to bring attention to yourself and drag others into ab argument.

Are you sure you are not angry ?

The difference between me and you is I have no partner out of choice,out of respect for the one I had.

Again making presumptions about something you know absolutely zero about, at least you're true to form

I think you will find a lot of assumptions in your crack of dawn post.

High Court approves Ladbrokes Ireland’s rescue plan

Bookmaker Ladbrokes is to retain 144 shops nationwide and continue to employ over 700 people in Ireland following the High Court’s approval of its rescue plan on Tuesday.

The UK bookmaker, which entered the examinership process in April in order to restructure the business, will now close 52 of its 196 outlets while about 90 people will leave the business as a result of a voluntary redundancy scheme.

Jackie Murphy, retail director, Ladbrokes (Ireland) Limited said, “We are pleased that the process is now almost complete and the business has will soon be exiting examinership. Throughout this process we have always maintained that our company provided the best option for the future stability of the Irish business. We will now have a sustainable cost base for the company, allowing us to grow a competitive business based in Ireland, run from Ireland, which invests in Irish sport and supports the Irish economy.”

Ms Murphy said that more jobs will be retained than was anticipated, and that the bookmaker will still be represented in almost every town throughout the country which had a Ladbrokes presence before this process began.

Ladbrokes expects the examinership process for its Irish trading subsidiaries - Ladbroke (Ireland) Limited, Ladbroke Leisure (Ireland) Limited and Dara Properties Limited (Ladbrokes Ireland) - to be completed shortly.

well they now exit their leases without any charges or fines...and get away without owing a penny to their creditors
so a business who is still trading is allowed to do this ?

bloody joke

A mate of mine had a premises leased to them that he developed during the boom, he has been just about making the vig the last few years until this, the bank will take all now.

Never sure how the bankruptcy procedure works against people who have provided services/ goods etc to someone who is a trader . To my mind if you consume something , you pay for it .  If you cant pay , you dont consume .

Too easy for people to walk away from legitimate debts , particularly in economic situations such as have pertained recently . Lawyers and accountants etc  providing advice in said situations also dont cover themselves in glory , join the w*n*er bankers .

Good names obviously dont mean anything these days .

I'm not an expert in this area but my understanding was that Ladbrokes were honouring their debts and were using the examinership to exit their leases.They did state that all bets would be honoured.I can't imagine that they could for example decide to honour bets and not pay the Revenue.

That said this whole examinership/receivership process is much abused as can be seen by the whole Clerys debacle.

The thing that I do not like is Ladbroke Ireland are getting away with paying their debts while the parent company is solvent.

I think that should be " not paying their debts " and I agree wholeheartedly.

They go into court claiming to be broke yet all know they are not and still the judge granted them this bogus dispensation.

Mothercare have also followed suit.

Its yet another case of the law favouring big business,of slick lawyers circumventing rules for companies whilst leaving the ordinary folk to the mercy of banks.

On a strict basis, they won't be avoiding their debts. Anyone that's owed money will be paid. The two groups that will suffer are 1)The landlords of the premises where leases have been renounced and 2) The staff of these shops who aren't relocated.

It's going to be tough for the commercial landlords as I imagine the vacated properties are largely located in areas of limited footfall making it a tough sell to new tenants. This will be especially tough where the landlord made an investment play at far above the current market price and is married to a mortgage while Lads have voided the lease.

A big turnaround in the 3 months since the thread started,coincidentally with the c0ral merger as well.
Now that they are almost out of this "examinership" would there be scope to object to their license by people who are owed?
I am in favour of multinationals in general,aldi and lidl have shaken up the grocery market at the expense of musgraves who were charging what they liked,Wetherspoons will do likewise in the drinks sector. Irish people aren't falling for the hype though and they have to have a certain amount of quality and that is where ladblokes have failed.

Lads seem to have  have closed a shop on the Ormeau Road , Belfast --last Saturday I believe . Bear in mind this was one of 46 approx they bought for £135 million ( that about 2.5 million per average shop ) from Eastwoods . Shop was there since the 1930's I think .

They are lucky they are in a business where its fairly easy to make money overall . And increasingly all punters are losers ( well they all  close down anyone who looks for value or backs winners , don't they ? ) .