Mothercare has announced plans to place its UK retail business in administration, putting around 2,500 jobs at risk.
The children's retailer, which has 79 UK stores, said it will file a notice of intent to appoint administrators for the UK business later today.
Mothercare Ireland, which is a separately owned and family run business, is not affected by the move in the UK.
Mothercare Ireland has 14 stores around the country. The business was started by David Ward in 1992 and is now run by his two sons Jonathan and Ben and daughter Laura.
Mothercare UK slumped to a £36.9m loss in the financial year to March, as it has struggled amid a period of turmoil for high street retailers.
The retailer, which has around 500 full-time staff and 2,000 part-time employees, is set to follow the likes of Bonmarche, Jack Wills and Karen Millen, which have gone bust in recent months.
The global Mothercare group said it has undertaken a review of the UK business and found that it is "not capable of returning to a level of structural profitability".
It said the business is therefore unable to satisfy the cash needs of the UK arm and is therefore filing the notice as part of the restructuring and refinancing process.
Mothercare added that the listed group remains profitable despite the problems facing its UK division.
Shares in the parent company dived by 29.2% to 8 pence in London trade this morning.
Read more
Key moments which led to uncertain future for Mothercare
Commenting on the UK announcement, Jonathan Ward, Managing Director of Mothercare Ireland, said that Mothercare Ireland is a completely separate company and as a result the 14 Irish stores are unaffected by the administration plans and will continue to trade as normal.
The parent group, Mothercare Global - which has more than 1,000 stores in more than 40 overseas territories - is not affected by the administration.
Mothercare Ireland is one of the original partners of Mothercare Global and is currently the fifth largest partner in the world.
