Breakfast briefing: Retail news on Groceries Code Adjudicator and Mothercare Ireland

Mothercare Ireland enters examinership

The High Court has appointed Declan McDonald of PriceWaterhouseCoopers as an interim examiner to Mothercare Ireland during high rent renegotiation.

The mother and baby specialist said the intention of seeking court protection and examinership is to restructure the business, save as many jobs as possible and minimise store closures. It cannot afford to support unprofitable stores, it added.

The company will continue to trade as normal during the process.

Meanwhile, the firm has also reassured its shoppers that gift vouchers and product warranties are under no threat following the announcement and that it is ‘business as usual’ from a consumer perspective.

Groceries Code Adjudicator faces teething issues in finance system

The Groceries Code Adjudicator (GCA) is facing teething problems with a new finance system that has caused a delay in payments of some of its invoices, The Times reported.

The independent adjudicator, set up to oversee the relationship between supermarkets and suppliers, has blamed the Competition and Markets Authority, which runs the system, for the delays as the former relied on the regulator to pay the invoices to suppliers in a “timely manner”.

In its first year of operation, the GCA only partially met its targets, blaming the “expected settling-in phase”.

The GCA intends to settle the undisputed invoices within five days and 80% of all other invoices within a maximum of 30 days.

It would also be “working closely with the CMA to ensure the targets are consistently met” the next year.