Thousands of jobs at risk after Wilko rescue deal fails

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

More than 10,000 workers have been thrown into an uncertain situation after a deal that could have saved Wilko fell through.

The bargain store chain was set to be bought out by HMV owner Doug Putman, who said he planned to keep 300 locations open. However, his bid ran into issues due to rising costs and issues with Wilko's "supply chains".

It comes after Wilko announced earlier this year that it had fallen into administration, with administrators PwC recently announcing that 52 stores would close down, reportedly resulting in 1,015 redundancies. Try MEN Premium for FREE by clicking here for no ads, fun puzzles and brilliant new features Mr Putman said: "It is with great disappointment that we can no longer continue in the purchase process for Wilko having worked with administrators and suppliers over several weeks to seek a viable way to rescue it as a going concern. Join our WhatsApp Top Stories and Breaking News group by clicking this link “We had financing in place and received the full support of PWC, Wilko management and staff representatives, which we are deeply thankful for considering what a challenging time it has been for them.

However, commitment to overhauling the trading framework of the business with partners and the costs of running Wilko’s legacy operations infrastructure combined has meant that a stable foundation could not be secured to ensure long term success for the business and its people in the way that we would have wanted.” It is not yet clear if the current Wilko workers will carry over to the new locations as part of the B&M deal.