Wilko ‘ran out of cash’. Former boss apologies to staff over collapse of chain
The former boss of Wilko, Lisa Wilkinson, was pushed to offer an apology to the staff of the now-collapsed high street chain and admitted that she let her employees down, as she was grilled by MPs over the demise of the chain.
Wilkinson, who fronted the family business, gave a host of reasons to the business and trade committee as to why the popular chain went under earlier this year, including the fallout from Liz Truss’s mini budget.
Speaking at a parliament hearing today, she said: “We were about to enter into secured lending arrangements with Macquarie [financial service group] when the 2022 mini-budget happened.”
“Literally we were in the midst of that, and at that point, the interest terms on that loan were hiked massively and that became infeasible. So, that was a contributor.”
“I am devastated that we have let each and every one of those people down with the insolvency of Wilko,” she said.
Wilkinson also admitted that the firm “ran out of cash” before she could push ahead with turnaround plans.
Also facing questions was Mark Johnson who was chief executive of the firm from Christmas last year, and said a decision to not furlough staff during the pandemic and cutting rents was a key factor in its collapse.
After more than 90 years on the high street, Wilko and all its 400 stores collapsed back in September, placing 12,500 jobs at risk after a host of failed rescue talks.
A small portion of jobs were saved after rivals B&M Bargains and Poundland snapped up a number of sites.
Nadine Houghton, who heads up the GMB Union, told MPs that a “failure of leadership and lack of accountability” led to the store’s collapse.
She also said that Wilko had been warning staff of “challenging trading positions” since 2010.
“We’ve got correspondence between ourselves and Wilko where they identify a challenging trading position from about 2010,” she said.
It comes following reports that the family paid out a total of £77m dividend to themselves and former shareholders of the retail chain in the decade leading up to its collapse. Even as losses plunged to more than £35m last year a £3m dividend was paid.
GMB has previously called for the family to repay the money.