The future for Wilko’s 12,500 staff hung in the balance on Thursday as they waited to hear whether a serious bidder for the budget retail chain had emerged.
Interested parties in the household goods retailer, which has 400 stores, had until Wednesday night to put forward their best offers for the company that called in administrators last week as it faced running out of cash.
It is expected that dozens, if not hundreds, of Wilko stores will have to close because a bid for the whole group as a going concern is unlikely to have been made, say industry insiders.
However, the full chain is expected to continue to trade into next week as talks on parcelling up the group’s assets are expected to drag on. Administrators are negotiating with potential suitors, including Poundland, B&M, Primark and Home Bargains, for groups of up to 50 stores each.
Bidders that could potentially rescue the Wilko brand include Hilco, which holds £40m of the chain’s debt, the Bensons for Beds owner, Alteri, and the Laura Ashley owner, Gordon Brothers, although it is not clear if any put forward a formal bid.
The GMB union, which represents thousands of workers at Wilko, said it still believed there was a chance of a rescue deal.
Andy Prendergast, the union’s national secretary, said: “GMB is in talks with administrators and there is still hope.”
The union has accused the firm’s management of allowing the retailer to lose its place in the market by failing to invest in technology for home shopping and other improvements while “much-needed cash was taken out of the business” by the owning Wilkinson family.
The GMB said: “We are seeking clarification regarding pensions, but have concerns. The Wilkinson family took tens of millions from the business in the decade up to the collapse. If they were serious about supporting working people, they should have invested in their staff.”
The family paid themselves £3m in dividends in the 12 months to the end of February 2022 despite a loss-making year for the Wilko group, as first revealed by the Guardian.
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The last reported deficit for the group’s defined benefit pension fund was £16m, but the fund has a £20m security over Wilko property assets. John Ralfe, a pensions expert, believes the hole in the fund is likely to have closed because of the rise in interest rates.
Wilko customers expressed anger about difficulties in getting information on refunds and deliveries after the group’s helpline and chat service shut down last week.
The customer helpline reopened this week, but was overwhelmed with queries from shoppers seeking a refund or information about held-up deliveries.
