Archived article
Please note that tax, investment, pension and ISA rules can change and the information and any views contained in this article may now be inaccurate.
Struggling travel company Thomas Cook said it had gone into liquidation after it was unable to secure emergency funding over the weekend.
The company had applied to the UK's High Court for a compulsory liquidation this morning.
An official receiver was expected to apply to the court for members of AlixPartners UK to be appointed as special managers in respect of the company.
AlixPartners was expected to work with the UK's Civil Aviation Authority to repatriate UK customers impacted by the liquidation.
Thomas Cook had been attempting to secure a funding injection from its lenders and Chinese company Fosun.
'We have worked exhaustively in the past few days to resolve the outstanding issues on an agreement to secure Thomas Cook's future for its employees, customers and suppliers,;' chief executive Peter Fankhauser said.
'Although a deal had been largely agreed, an additional facility requested in the last few days of negotiations presented a challenge that ultimately proved insurmountable.'
'It is a matter of profound regret to me and the rest of the board that we were not successful.'
'I would like to apologise to our millions of customers, and thousands of employees, suppliers and partners who have supported us for many years.'
'Despite huge uncertainty over recent weeks, our teams continued to put customers first, showing why Thomas Cook is one of the best-loved brands in travel.'
'Generations of customers entrusted their family holiday to Thomas Cook because our people kept our customers at the heart of the business and maintained our founder's spirit of innovation.'
"This marks a deeply sad day for the company which pioneered package holidays and made travel possible for millions of people around the world.'