The British retail chain Mothercare has said it is to appoint administrators to the company.

But the group says it will be free to continue to trade in the normal course of business.

Irish stores are unaffected by this, as they operate as a franchise and are not part of the UK group.

Mothercare Ireland has 15 stores nationwide, employing approximately 274 people.

The Irish arm of Mothercare successfully exited examinership back in October 2015.

Since May 2018, the British firm has undertaken a root and branch review of the group - including a number of discussions over the summer with potential partners regarding its UK retail business.

It says: "Through this process, it has become clear that the UK retail operations of the group, which today includes 79 stores, are not capable of returning to a level of structural profitability and returns that are sustainable for the group as it currently stands and/or attractive enough for a third party partner to operate on an arm's length basis".

It also says the company is "unable to continue to satisfy" the ongoing cash needs of Mothercare UK.

"These notices of intent to appoint administrators in respect of Mothercare UK and MBS are a necessary step in the restructuring and refinancing of the group."

It adds that plans are "well advanced and being finalised" for execution imminently.

The company says it generates over stg£500m (€579m) of revenues each year from over 1,000 stores internationally in over 40 territories in which the Mothercare brand operates.

In the financial year ended in March 2019, the brand generated profits of stg£28.3m (€32.7m) internationally - whereas the UK retail operations lost stg£36.3m (€42m).