The UK homewares retailer Wilko has confirmed it has filed a notice of intention to appoint administrators. The retailer has 400 stores across the country and employs 12,000 people.
The notice of intention does not mean the retailer will appoint administrators, but gives Wilko more time to secure finances. This will now allow the store a 10-day period to secure a deal.
The company has reportedly received offers to help recapitalise but none of them could provide sufficient liquidity in time.
Wilko’s chief executive Mark Jackson explained: “While we can confirm we’ve had a significant level of interest, including indicative offers that we believe would meet all our financial criteria to recapitalise the business, at present, we don’t today have an offer that provides the necessary liquidity in the time we have available, given the mounting cash pressures we’re faced with.
“Unfortunately, with this in mind, today we’re having to take the difficult decision to file an NOI.”
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Mark Jackson added: “We’ll continue to progress discussions with interested parties with the aim of completing a transaction which preserves the business.”
Wilko, which was founded in 1930 and started from a single hardware store, initially secured a £40million lifeline from Hilco UK, the owner of Homebase, earlier this year.
Speaking last month, Wilko’s chief executive said: “We continue to believe that our robust turnaround plan, with significant re-stabilisation cost savings in progress, will deliver a profitable Wilko and maximise the significant opportunities that we know exist.”
This could mean Wilko could close its 408 homeware stores across the country. Customers can check what’s their nearest store on the retailer’s official website.
‘More to follow…’
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