22 companies who've had a disastrous 2017
lovemoney staff
14 October 2017
Firms that have had a year to forget
This year has been an especially tough one for Toys "R" Us, which has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the US and Canada. The world's largest toy store chain isn't the only firm experiencing an annus horribilis. From Uber to United Airlines, we take a look at 22 companies that can't wait to see the back of 2017.
Toys "R" Us
Fierce competition from online retailers has hit Toys "R" Us hard in North America. As sales have fallen, the firm has run up eye-watering debts of $5 billion (£3.7bn), hence the Chapter 11 bankruptcy. But it's not all doom and gloom. The company's international operations are turning a profit and the retailer is even expanding in the UK, with four new stores opening before Christmas.
J.C. Penney
Another victim of the push towards online shopping, iconic American retailer J.C. Penney reported a net loss of $62 million (£45.7m) in the second quarter of 2017. The floundering firm is in the process of closing 138 stores in the US, with the loss of thousands of jobs, in order to reduce its retail footprint and significantly cut costs.
Sears Holdings
Sears Holdings, which owns the Sears and Kmart chains, has been experiencing similar issues. The company has already shut down 180 Sears and Kmart stores and is closing a further 178 locations in the US. The beleaguered firm has entered bankruptcy protection in Canada and is flirting with receivership in the US.
Macy's
Likewise, Macy's has been fighting off strong competition from online retailers for the past few years and its profits have been flagging as a result. The department store chain has reported significant sales drops over the last six quarters and has shut hundreds of stores with the loss of more than 10,000 jobs, which led Canada's Hudson's Bay Company to issue a takeover bid in February.
Neiman Marcus
Macy's isn't the only department store chain feeling the pinch. Luxury chain Neiman Marcus has reported seven straight quarters of declining sales and even considered putting itself up for sale earlier this year. Up to its eyeballs in debt, the high-end firm is closing 10 of its 38 outlet stores in an attempt to buck the trend.
United Airlines
The main contender for PR catastrophe of the year, United Airlines hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons in April when a video surfaced online of a passenger being forcibly removed from an overbooked flight. A poor initial response from the company added fuel to the fire, and United Airlines's share price nosedived as a result, wiping a staggering $1 billion (£743m) off the company's value.
Ryanair
Hot on United's heels, Ireland's Ryanair has given the US airline a run for its money in the PR disaster stakes. The low-cost airline's bungling of pilots' holidays has led it to cancel 40 to 50 flights a day over a six-week period in September and October. Ryanair, which is also losing pilots in their droves to competitors such as Norwegian, has seen its value drop $30 million (£22m) and has managed to infuriate thousands of its customers, many of which have been left in the lurch.
Uber
Another day, another major crisis for Uber. This year has been an exceptionally bad one for the ride-sharing company, which has been plagued by a string of scandals too numerous to mention, from sexual harassment allegations to duping regulators with its shady Greyball software. The service has also been banned in several locations worldwide, including Italy, Denmark and now London.
Bell Pottinger
British PR giant Bell Pottinger, which has attracted criticism in the past for representing a whole host of morally dubious clients, came a cropper earlier this year when it was accused of fuelling racial tension in South Africa to benefit its client, Oakbay Investments. The disgraced firm lost its client base and was kicked out of the UK's PR trade association, and consequently went into administration in September.
Equifax
Regarded as the worst corporate data breach ever, credit referencing giant Equifax was hacked earlier this year, exposing the confidential credit details of 143 million people. The troubled firm's share price plunged following the breach and the company is now facing a slew of lawsuits from regulators worldwide.
Snap
When Snap, parent company of hugely popular app Snapchat, went public in March, investors were hoping for a Facebook-style surge in the company's share price. But it wasn't to be. A toxic combo of disappointing second quarter earnings, increased competition, and major hedge funds dumping the stock en masse has seen the company's share price fall by almost 50% since March.
Prada
Unlike arch-rival Gucci, which has enjoyed buoyant sales this year, luxury fashion house Prada, which is listed in Hong Kong, has seen its profits fall in 2017. Despite investing in its e-commerce business, Prada has closed 13 stores this year and is struggling big-time to reverse the downturn in sales.
Fitbit
Fitbit has lost out to rivals such as Apple and Xiaomi, which overtook the firm earlier this year as the top sellers of wearable devices. The demand for Fitbit devices has tumbled since the company's IPO two years ago, and its share price has been in the doldrums for months now, fluctuating around $6 (£4.50), which is well down on its $20 (£15) IPO price.
Carillion
The UK's most shorted stock, British contractor Carillion, which employs 50,000 people worldwide, has been having a terrible year. The firm's share price went into freefall in July following an ominous profit warning, plummeting by a massive 80%, and the company, which is desperately restructuring to save itself from collapse, dropped out of the UK's FTSE 250 share index in August.
HTC
The smartphone arm of the Taiwanese electronics firm launched the world's first commercial Android handset in 2008, and was at the forefront of the premium smartphone market for years, but competition from Apple and Samsung has eaten into HTC's profits. The ailing electronics company is now desperately seeking a buyer for its smartphone business and has suspended shares, with Google's parent company Alphabet rumoured to be mounting a takeover bid.
Fox News
The controversial news channel, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch's Fox Entertainment Group, has been embroiled in a series of damaging sexual harassment scandals of late. After CEO Roger Ailes was forced to quit in July 2016, a succession of the channel's executives and presenters have followed suit, from Bill O'Reilly, who was pushed out in April, to presenter Jesse Watters, who was fired after he was accused of making lewd remarks about the US president's daughter and adviser, Ivanka Trump.
Claire's
The chain of accessories stores has been on life support this year and experts at Fitch Ratings predict the firm will go under by the end of the year. Claire's, which just cannot seem to turn a decent profit, pulled the plug on its IPO in January amid abysmal sales, and has been struggling all year to stay afloat.
Takata
An airbag the Japanese car parts maker produced has been linked to at least 16 deaths worldwide, and Takata was compelled to initiate the industry's biggest-ever recall last year. A flurry of lawsuits and the cost of the recall prompted the crisis-ridden firm to file for bankruptcy protection in June and shares in the company have crashed spectacularly ever since.
Royal Mail
The UK's Royal Mail is poised to lose its coveted place in the FTSE 100 index of leading shares and is set to be relegated to the FTSE 250 after a particularly harsh year to date. The stricken postal and courier company has been suffering as a result of declining letter volumes, partly precipitated by the downturn in direct marketing campaigns following the Brexit vote.
Vitamin World
Yet another struggling retailer, Vitamin World is reportedly in the process of closing 51 of its 334 stores and filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the US. The vitamin and nutritional supplement business, which was acquired by private equity firm Center Lane Partners earlier this year, is keen to end costly lease agreements on some of its retail outlets, which have dented its profits.
Jamie Oliver Holdings
The British celebrity chef's business empire has been under pressure for a few years, particularly on the restaurant side, overall making a loss of $13 million (£9.9m) in the last financial year, compared to a profit of $3.2 million (£2.4m) the year before, according to the Mail on Sunday newspaper. Six Jamie's Italian restaurants have been closed, which Oliver blamed on tough conditions in the UK restaurant market and the uncertainty caused by the Brexit vote.
Monarch
The UK holiday company and airline had struggled for a few years for a variety of reasons including terrorism incidents in Egypt and Tunisia, two of its key markets, and the weakness of the pound. It finally collapsed in early October, forcing the UK government to initiate the largest peacetime repatriation of UK citizens in history, with 110,000 passengers flown home from abroad, while hundreds of thousands more had their holidays cancelled.
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