High street retailer Wilko said it has filed a notice of intent to appoint administrators, putting around 12,000 jobs at risk.
The boss of the homeware and hardware chain said it is expected to enter insolvency after failing to secure a takeover to help the business with “mounting cash pressures”.
Wilko, which has about 400 shops, filed a notice of intention to appoint administrators at the High Court on Thursday.
The business has ten stores in Scotland. They are:
- Ayr
- Edinburgh
- Hamilton
- Motherwell
- Irvine
- Falkirk
- Castle Douglas
- Livingston
- Greenock
- Clydebank
Last year, the retailer agreed a deal to borrow £40m from restructuring specialist Hilco after posting significant losses.
The company said it had “no choice” but to file for the potential insolvency but will continue a possible rescue takeover.
Wilko chief executive officer Mark Jackson said: “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 a notice of intention.
“We’ll continue to progress discussions with interested parties with the aim of completing a transaction which preserves the business and will encourage those interested parties we’re in discussions with to move as fast as possible.
“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.”
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