Wilko's goes into Administration

[Richardr]

Pepco Group NV is a Polish company, I believe, and owns Poundland in this country. It uses brands such as its own name and Dealz especially in certain other European countries.

 

[GatwickDepress]

Popped into the Leeds city centre branch and grabbed a few things for uni, staff seemed in decent spirits and there were very few things left - mostly stationery and health and beauty goods. Lots of aisles blocked off with stock trolleys.

As it’s closed forever at four today, I bought a bag for life as a sort of souvenir. Hopefully all the staff manage to find new employment.

 

[jfollows]

The pension fund is in deficit by £56 million, which will lead to the Pension Protection Fund and a cut to many pensions, whilst over the last ten years the Wilkinson family took £77 million in dividends and other payments out of the business, including last year's £3 million dividend when the company lost £39 million, and £3.2 million in 2018 when it lost £65 million. Apparently this was OK because of "£100 million of assets and £58 million in the bank" at the time.
Shades of Philip Green and BHS, who was threatened with the removal of his knighthood until he coughed up £363 million in the end.

 

[stuartl]

The one in Sheffield Haymarket also houses a post office, which moved there when the co-op department store across the road closed.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

The pension fund is in deficit by £56 million, which will lead to the Pension Protection Fund and a cut to many pensions, whilst over the last ten years the Wilkinson family took £77 million in dividends and other payments out of the business

What were those "other payments" mentioned above?

 

[jfollows]

What were those "other payments" mentioned above?

I've no idea, I'd have said if I did ...... originally reported as such in The Times today.

Salaries and expenses would be a good starting point guess I suggest.

Article attached (https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/wilko-owes-a-debt-to-its-pensioners-k77sz9t72):

ALISTAIR OSBORNE | BUSINESS COMMENTARY

Wilko owes a debt to its pensioners​

Alistair Osborne

Thursday September 21 2023, 12.01am, The Times

Moral standards don’t only apply to Sir Philip “Effing” Green. Other people have taken money out of a business, failed to plug its pension deficit and then watched it keel over. Take the Wilkinson family behind the bust Wilko. Shouldn’t they be coughing up too?

In the ten years up to the retailer’s collapse, the Wilkinson clan took £77 million of dividends and other payments out of the business. That includes £63 million in 2014, when its boss, Lisa Wilkinson, the granddaughter of founder James Kempsey Wilkinson, took charge after buying a majority stake from her cousin Karin Swann, another granddaughter. It also includes last year’s £3 million dividend, when the retailer racked up a £39 million loss, and £3.2 million in 2018, when the losses came in at £65 million.

In short, the owners have done rather nicely out of the clapped-out purveyor of home, garden and decorating kit — not least compared to the 2,000 Wilko pensioners they’ve now left in the lurch. Lisa Wilkinson signed off millions of pounds in dividend payments. But whatever her plans for the pension fund, it’s now got a £56 million hole in it — on a buyout basis and after adjusting for a £20 million charge over properties. The upshot? Unless administrator PwC miraculously finds a buyer willing to fund it, the workers are heading for the Pension Protection Fund and a big cut to many of their retirement payments.

Is that fair? Hardly. And not least after the BHS farrago that saw the vilification of Green. Yes, the sums are smaller. The Wilkinsons aren’t billionaires. Nor are they swanning about in Monaco on a yacht.

But there’s a similar principle at stake. When BHS imploded in 2016, the errant knight didn’t even own the business. He’d conveniently offloaded it a year earlier to the prize goon Dominic Chappell, a triple bankrupt former racing driver.

Still, no one was fooled by that — not the media, MPs or the Pensions Regulator. It looked as if Green had sold BHS for a token £1 to get out of funding a pension deficit that had ballooned, on a buyout basis, to £571 million by the time the retailer collapsed. Uproar followed, with particular focus on the £420 million of dividends the Green family had taken out between 2002 and 2004, years before BHS failed.

Eventually, after a right hoo-ha and threats to take away his knighthood, Green injected £363 million of his own money into the pension fund. Sadly for him, he never got the credit he deserved. The reputational damage was done and it looked as if the payment had simply been dragged out of him.

Still, he did his bit. What of the Wilkinsons? Of course, they don’t have his money. But why should they get off scot-free? The GMB union is rightly calling on MPs to quiz Lisa Wilkinson on her plans to “plug” Wilko’s deficit. PwC is also reviewing past dividends in line with its duties as administrator to see if there are grounds for any claims.

As for the family, a spokesman referred all questions to PwC. Lisa Wilkinson has previously defended the payouts during lossmaking years, saying they were backed by £100 million of assets and a then £58 million bank balance, with the company’s auditors having “checked it off”. That is no consolation to her pensioners. She needs to put some money back in.

 

[GCH100]

No, True, its just rather obscure, that's why I mentioned it

The Debenhams shop in Manchester Arndale that sold cosmetics that I mentioned at the weekend has also closed now and gone online.

I went in the Arndale Centre Wilko today, the top floor was closed off and there were many empty shelves on the lower floor, yet they were still for some reason selling Washing Detergents at full whack prices, and this shelve was still as if untouched. The Price off some goods had changed to 30%, but not massive discounts we saw when Woolworths went bust in the early 2000's.

Who will be next to go bust in terms of retail stores I wonder?

 

[Darandio]

Who will be next to go bust in terms of retail stores I wonder?

This will be the place to find out, been some fairly accurate predictions in there previously.

Companies That You Expect to Disappear Soon

With the news that high street chain "Claire's" is entering into Administration, what other companies do you expect to disappear soon? Those were the days with Index, Littlewoods, BHS, Woolworths, Virgin Megastores (and there Z replacement?). Game is certainly one I expect will go at some...

www.railforums.co.uk

 

[JD2168]

The one in Sheffield Haymarket also houses a post office, which moved there when the co-op department store across the road closed.

The staff in the Post Office at Haymarket still have no idea what is happening, I have asked a few times at the store as I work at the Sheffield Haymarket Wilko branch.

The last stores including Sheffield Haymarket will close at end of trading on Sunday 8th October.

 

[SuspectUsual]

Salaries and expenses would be a good starting point guess I suggest

And - ironically - pension contributions

 

[Cloud Strife]

Pepco Group NV is a Polish company, I believe, and owns Poundland in this country. It uses brands such as its own name and Dealz especially in certain other European countries.

It's a bit of a strange story. The company is headquartered in the UK, the shares are listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange, but the majority (72%) of the shares are held by a UK company Ibex Retail Investments Limited, which is in turn ultimately controlled by Steinhoff International. That company is South African, but is dual listed on both the Frankfurt and whatever the South African stock exchange is called.

The company itself is really run as two separate organisations, as Pepco is run from Poland while Poundland is run from the UK. However, to all practical extents, Pepco is really a British company, even down to the management.

 

[david1212]

When I wandered into the shopping centre today I found Wilko's closed and bare. I'm not sure exactly when the shutters came down for the last time. I guess the staff off the books and the keys handed back for the end of September.

Now no mainstream store in the lower area to bring footfall and more store area empty than occupied.
I guess Poundland and Savers will gain from toiletries and cleaning products. There is Robert Dyas too for kitchenware, tools / DIY, lightbulbs and some gardening in season but they are soooo expensive so will be a last resort. The stark reality is online will be first choice as Homebase, Screwfix and Toolstation are all an inconvenient detour or if not time to include an additional trip.

 

[MatthewB75]

Gutted this store closed down. I enjoyed taking my grandson there for the sweets and would always pick up a few bits for housework, etc. It reminded me of my own Grandad doing the same with me in the early 80's in Woolworths.

 

[Citybreak1]

Some of them have reopened as Poundland already and even have the wilko checkouts in place still.

 

[Mojo]

Some of them have reopened as Poundland already and even have the wilko checkouts in place still.

Ten of them, opened yesterday. Stafford, Nelson, Barking, Stockport, Eccles, Leigh, Southport, Maidenhead, Jarrow and Ashby (Scunthorpe).

 

[Peter Sarf]

Gutted this store closed down. I enjoyed taking my grandson there for the sweets and would always pick up a few bits for housework, etc. It reminded me of my own Grandad doing the same with me in the early 80's in Woolworths.

I agree, Wilkos was like Woolworths were back in their better days before becoming a glorified sweet shop that I stopped going in to.

Fingers crossed the Range do something useful with what was good about Wilkos.

 

[dgl]

I wonder what will end up happening with the Weymouth store, yes it was just down from the main shopping streets but in reality it is in a slightly weird location now.
One thing that did show some of the problems they has is that they were selling a toaster reduced to ~£39.99 that supposedly had an RRP of £99.99, this was a nothing special Salter toaster, just metal rather than plastic, our fancy Bosch toaster was probably only slightly more expensive.

 

[Peter Sarf]

I wonder what will end up happening with the Weymouth store, yes it was just down from the main shopping streets but in reality it is in a slightly weird location now.
One thing that did show some of the problems they has is that they were selling a toaster reduced to ~£39.99 that supposedly had an RRP of £99.99, this was a nothing special Salter toaster, just metal rather than plastic, our fancy Bosch toaster was probably only slightly more expensive.

Not just Wilkos as most stores seem to have an expensive version of a toaster or suchlike with no real way of knowing if it is worth the price. I know my missus bought a "bargain" toaster from BHS when they were closing down. Did not last a year - and no chance of returning that to the store !. I did warn her but it is style over substance. She wanted to replace the old toaster I had bodged back into life (broken element needing keyhole surgery). She now wants a four slot toaster - for two of us.

I just buy a basic model and they last just as well. It is nearly always user error - a broken element. Sometimes a short caused by the crust of a large slice of bread tripping the circuit or half house out - I just break it up GENTLY whilst unplugged and out of her sight (she prefers brute force stabbing action with a metal tool rather than a plastic chopstick). Luckily we have RCDs otherwise it would be mis-adventure.

Off-topic RCD praise. I came home to find the fair lady had tried to hammer a screw into the wall to hang the picture she had just bought. Her carefully chosen location was exactly vertically above a light switch !. She would never understand how useful my cable and pipe finder is. I bought that from Wilkinsons iirc in Bournemouth/Boscombe. That was when I first discovered Wilkinsons/Wilko about 20 years ago. I was surprised to find Wilkos in Cardiff when I first went there years later. Little did I know that Croydon was "the" Wilko desert !.

A trick Poundstretcher have is to more or less double their prices then show them reduced by 50%. Since I have noticed that I am now even more cynical about their prices but I bet it has served them well. Really going to miss Wilkos.

 

[JD2168]

A consequence of Sheffield Haymarket Wilko closing at the end of this week, the City’s main post office closed for the final time today.

 

[Mojo]

Made a special trip into town this morning for what will be my last ever trip to Wilkinsons as both my most frequently visited shops closed down today.

It was quite an emotional moment as I’ve bought so much stuff from there; it was where the first decorating items came from when I bought my first house and almost the entire house has been decorated with supplies I’ve bought in Wilkinsons. It’s also where most of my garden pots and bulbs have come from too.

Since the plastic bag tax was brought in 8 years ago I’ve never paid it, however I ended up buying a disposable carrier bag to commemorate the moment. I left the shop feeling very sad; the staff still remained friendly to the end and the wall the shop staff had where people had been writing their memories was so full people had been writing on the shelf ends too.

I actually wonder if I’ll ever go back into that town centre. I only ever went there to go to Wilkinsons and when there I’d often pop into other shops or a cafe, but without Wilkinsons I don’t think there’s any other main retailers that would cause me to have to visit.

 

[Peter Sarf]

Made a special trip into town this morning for what will be my last ever trip to Wilkinsons as both my most frequently visited shops closed down today.

It was quite an emotional moment as I’ve bought so much stuff from there; it was where the first decorating items came from when I bought my first house and almost the entire house has been decorated with supplies I’ve bought in Wilkinsons. It’s also where most of my garden pots and bulbs have come from too.

Since the plastic bag tax was brought in 8 years ago I’ve never paid it, however I ended up buying a disposable carrier bag to commemorate the moment. I left the shop feeling very sad; the staff still remained friendly to the end and the wall the shop staff had where people had been writing their memories was so full people had been writing on the shelf ends too.

I actually wonder if I’ll ever go back into that town centre. I only ever went there to go to Wilkinsons and when there I’d often pop into other shops or a cafe, but without Wilkinsons I don’t think there’s any other main retailers that would cause me to have to visit.

I had a poor discovery of Wilkinsons as Croydon never had one. I slowly learnt they were in all neighbouring boroughs not just Bournemouth after I saw them in Cardiff as well. I have bought a few things over the years and they definitely were the sort of shop I would go to in Cardiff just to see what was there. Today we visited the Bromley store for the last time (closes end of Saturday 07/10/2023 aiui). Bought more than we immediately need. Like you oticed in yours there were two areas with messages from customers. We then went to Robert Dyas (another shop absent from Croydon) and I must say I feel their prices are about 50% more than Wilkinsons were.

Wilkinsons used to be a really inspiring place to visit right up to the end.

 

[johntea]

Last store closures today

I walked past the Doncaster Frenchgate shopping centre one which has already closed down and it was quite sobering seeing how a large retail space full of stock and customers just a few weeks ago when I walked past last is now basically an empty shell, it did remind me of Woolworths where I seem to recall they set to work dismantling the store I was in literally the second after it officially closed down for business for the day

 

[Dai Corner]

Last store closures today

I walked past the Doncaster Frenchgate shopping centre one which has already closed down and it was quite sobering seeing how a large retail space full of stock and customers just a few weeks ago when I walked past last is now basically an empty shell, it did remind me of Woolworths where I seem to recall they set to work dismantling the store I was in literally the second after it officially closed down for business for the day

I seem to remember Woolworths were selling the fixtures and fittings as well as the stock during their last few weeks.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

I seem to remember Woolworths were selling the fixtures and fittings as well as the stock during their last few weeks.

Definitely a whole new meaning to "Everything must go!"

 

[py_megapixel]

Ten of them, opened yesterday. Stafford, Nelson, Barking, Stockport, Eccles, Leigh, Southport, Maidenhead, Jarrow and Ashby (Scunthorpe).

Stockport is a strange one - aren't there already two Poundlands there (about 2 minutes walk from each other and maybe 5 minutes from the previous Wilko)? I wouldn't have thought there would be demand for a third.

 

[skyhigh]

I seem to remember Woolworths were selling the fixtures and fittings as well as the stock during their last few weeks.

That's pretty normal for businesses closing down - unless they have a buyer for the premises including fittings. The administrators are required to raise as much as possible for the creditors, selling off unwanted shelving for further use/scrap value is a way of raising more income.

 

[Mojo]

I seem to remember Woolworths were selling the fixtures and fittings as well as the stock during their last few weeks.

Yes they were selling the fixtures and fittings in the branches I went into on Wednesday. Of the things I remember, trolley baskets were £3, “bargain bins” where you may expect to see things like Manager’s specials were £10 for a small or £15 for a large, and they were also selling their double glass door fridge for £350.

 

[Highview]

According to an article on the trade website Retail Gazette today Wilko owed £625m when it collapsed, of which £548m is unsecured and these will only get up to 4p in the £ back.

 

[Peter Sarf]

Dropped into Bromley today and made a visit to Wilko. A few isles left with about 30% stocked. Stuff going silly cheap and lids for storage boxes being given away. Got some hoze fittings for 5p each - they had hundreds of the ones that fit on mixer taps !. Staff still in a pleasant mood. Manager walking round lowering prices - staff not behaving as though they did not care.

Very sad. A good shop with good products reasonably priced and with good staff.

 

[Mojo]

Looks like the Wilko website which was bought by The Range has relaunched today. It's £4.95 for delivery or free if you spend over £100. At the moment it's not that easy to use because it still seems to have the stock list of Wilkinsons on it, with many pages just a list of out of date products.

Most interestingly is the banner "Your favourite wilko products returning soon..." with pictures of some of Wilkinson's old products like paint and bird food. Which is actually quite promising given how well priced and good quality most of their stuff was. Whether it's the same as before remains to be seen.