Payment intermediary to hold onto Thomas Cook’s cash in latest blow to airline

A payment intermediary from the Nordic region is in talks to extend the time it holds on to consumers' money owed to the Thomas Cook Group.

The firm is seeking to retain millions of pounds of holidaymakers’ money, which is usually kept for two days, for several weeks, according to Sky News.

Read more: Thomas Cook shares crash 40 per cent as investors urged to sell

Accountancy firm Deloitte has been retained by a number of other card acquirers to advise them on their exposure to the business.

It comes after a week in which the 178-year-old tour operator reported a half-year loss of around £1.5bn, largely due to a writedown relating to its merger with MyTravel in 2007.

Shares also slumped a further 40 per cent on Friday after analysts at Citi said there was zero value to its equity.

Thomas Cook has been offered a £300m winter debt facility for what is typically its most difficult time of the year to provide extra headroom, but it must demonstrate progress in the sale of the company.

Card acquirers are therefore keen to retain customers’ cash for longer in order to protect their interests, although Sky News understands that it is only the Nordic payment firm that has the right to retain money for more than two days.

A Thomas Cook spokesperson said: "In the last few days we have had a number of discussions with our suppliers to explain the ample resources we have to continue to do business as well as our strengthening liquidity position.

Read more: Thomas Cook shares crash as it suffers 'grim' £1.45bn loss

"We remain in discussions with our Nordic card supplier and we are confident that we will reach an acceptable solution in the coming days."

After a poor trading period ahead of this summer partly due to Brexit uncertainty, shares in Thomas Cook now stand at just 11.8p, giving its equity a value of only £181m.