Bath-based business has been challenged by market conditions and pressure on margins.
Parragon Books is to enter into consultation about the potential closure of the business.
A statement from DC Thomson said that the Bath-based company – which has a number of licences and preschool titles in its portfolio – has been challenged, underperforming for a number of years due to difficult market conditions and severe pressure on margins.
The proposal means up to 245 jobs are at risk of redundancy globally.
In the UK, the business will enter a 45-day collective consultation process with employees. In other territories, the company will follow the respective processes.
Mike Symons, ceo, said: “Early last year, the new management team joined and undertook a strategic review of the company, implementing some immediate changes which improved the company position.
“Under their guidance, the whole team made really significant progress over and above the expectations of the shareholders, but the market has gone against us further than anticipated, so today we are announcing that it is the strategic decision of DC Thomson to exit from Parragon operations worldwide.”
David Thomson, director of DC Thomson, commented: “Whilst we are still open to offers and expressions of interest for the business, DC Thomson is unable to run this process indefinitely. Therefore, the company has made the decision to enter into a consultation process. This decision has not been entered into lightly and, as owners of the business for more than a decade, we are very disappointed to be making this announcement today.
“No other parts of the DC Thomson group are affected by this and DC Thomson is fully committed to supporting Parragon throughout this process.
“We would like to thank everyone involved in the Parragon business for their continued hard work and support. We will work with all individuals to support the best possible outcome during this period, providing employees with details of opportunities elsewhere across the group where possible.”
