UK RETAILER WILKO COLLAPSES, RISKING 12,000 JOBS

Thu 10 August 2023:

British retail chain Wilko on Thursday announced it collapsed into administration after efforts to rescue hundreds of shops and thousands of jobs failed.

The retail chain said that it has so far been unable to find enough investment to save its 400 shops and more than 12,000 jobs.

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), considered one of the largest accounting firms, has been appointed as administrator.

Administrator PwC said the retailer’s stores would continue to trade without any immediate redundancies as talks with interested parties continue.

However, PwC warned: “If buyers for some or all of the group are not found, it is likely that store closures and redundancies will follow.”

CEO Mark Jackson said they “left no stone unturned” in a bid to save the firm, “but must concede that with regret, we’ve no choice but to take the difficult decision to enter into administration.”

“We’ve all fought hard to keep this incredible business intact but must concede that time has run out, and now we must do what’s best to preserve as many jobs as possible, for as long as is possible, by working with our appointed administrators,” he added.

Media reports said Wilko had appointed PricewaterhouseCoopers as administrators of the distressed company that was founded in 1930.

“While we can confirm we had a significant level of interest, including indicative offers that we believe would meet all our financial criteria to recapitalise the business… we’ve been left with no choice but to take this unfortunate action,” Jackson added.

It is Britain’s biggest retail casualty since convenience store chain McColl’s collapsed in May last year. McColl’s was subsequently bought by supermarket group Morrisons.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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