More than 1,000 Bradford-based staff of travel giant Thomas Cook are awaiting the outcome of talks with the 170-year-old group’s lenders.

The company should have published its annual results today, but postponed the announcement to focus on winning more financial support from its bankers after seeing its trade deteriorate by weaker consumer confidence and unrest in North Africa.

A company spokesman confirmed that the results update, when it comes, will include details of restructuring, including the closure of some travel agencies, but was unable to say whether the ‘back office’ operations in Bradford city centre and at Birkenshaw, which include a key call centre, sales and administration departments, would be affected.

Shares in Thomas Cook recovered slightly after nosediving amid fears the debt-laden tour operator was on the brink of collapse.

The company, which sells more than 22 million holidays a year in the UK, has turned to its banks for more financial help following a deterioration in trade.

Ernst & Young has reportedly been drafted in by the company’s syndicate of lending banks, which include Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland, to advise them on forthcoming negotiations.

Thomas Cook shocked holidaymakers and investors alike when it revealed it had returned to its lenders for an extra £100 million in funding headroom – just four weeks after it agreed a similar top-up.

The announcement saw shares in Thomas Cook dive 75 per cent at one point and raised fears that millions could face holiday misery if the company collapses. Thomas Cook’s shares partially recovered yesterday, rising 20 per cent, but the price is still 93 per cent lower than it was at the start of the year, valuing the company at around £107 million.

The group said it was looking to support itself through December and January, which is the toughest time of year for the business.

Sam Weihagen, Thomas Cook’s interim chief executive, insisted the company was a “robust business that has a great future”.

“We’re operating business as usual,” he said. “Flights are leaving on schedule, shops are open and we’re taking bookings.”