Wilko collapse: Redundancy process resumes as rescue plan for retailer misses deadline
Hundreds of jobs will be lost at Wilko in the first tranche of redundancies after a bid to buy the whole of the collapsed business fell through.
A potential bidder, the only one who planned to protect all 12,500 employees and 400 sites, including Jackson Square in Bishop’s Stortford, missed a deadline set by administrator PwC.
PwC said: “It is now clear that no viable offer structure put forward includes the group in its entirety.”
The administrator said that discussions were continuing with bidders interested in buying parts of the homewares and household goods retailer’s business.
In Worksop, Nottinghamshire, and at Magor, near Newport in Wales, 269 support centre workers will have their last day with the business on Monday (September 4).
There will be further redundancies across the company’s two distribution centres from early next week. The exact numbers have yet to be confirmed.
The GMB union said a bidder, reported to be M2 Capital, had not submitted the evidence needed to show it could buy the business.
“As a result of this unwelcome development, the redundancy processes which were paused two days ago are set to restart almost instantly,” said the union.
It said that it was trying to save the distribution centres, but “we do not have high hopes of doing so”.
On Wednesday, the GMB had told its 3,000 members who work for Wilko that M2 Capital, which was believed to have offered around £90m for the business, had until 5pm to submit the correct paperwork.
M2 was understood to have said that it would retain all the jobs for two years.
GMB said that it was “hopeful” of a viable bid for Wilko’s stores and online business.
It added: “Despite leaving no stone unturned, we simply could not reverse the years of mismanagement under the recent regime and cannot ignore the incompetence which has cost you your jobs.”
Joint administrator Jane Steer said: “It’s with great sadness that we announce these redundancies.
“We’re incredibly grateful to these team members for the support and dedication they’ve shown to the company, particularly over the last few very difficult weeks.
“We will continue to do all that we can to support staff through this period of difficult upheaval and to maximise their opportunities for a rapid return to work.
“Our priority is to ensure that all team members affected by redundancy are assisted in processing their claims with immediate effect.
“We will be circulating correspondence to all staff as soon as possible which will outline the support available to complete redundancy payment forms.”
PwC also said there had been no viable offers for Kin Limited, a subsidiary of the company. Kin has been forced to close, with the loss of 14 jobs.
Copy by PA.