Wilko to file for administration after failing to find funding

UK homeware and beauty retailer Wilko has filed a notice of intention to appoint administrators after it failed to find funding or secure a sale of the business.

The privately-owned budget chain said that it had issued the notice with the High Court, a move that could potentially put 12,000 jobs and 400 stores at risk.

The decision now provides Wilko 10 days to secure a deal while remaining protected from actions by other creditors.

In a statement to the Daily Mail, the company’s chief executive officer Mark Jackson confirmed that it had been struggling to find a buyer despite seeing a “significant level of interest”.

Jackson continued that the company didn’t have an offer that provided “the necessary liquidity” in the time it had available due to “mounting cash pressures”.

He added: “Unfortunately, with this in mind, today we're having to take the difficult decision to file an NOI.”

Earlier this year, the owners of Wilko revealed that they had been considering a sale of the company, later entering into discussions with interested parties in a bid to cement its future.

The news came after it had been reported that specialist retail investor Hilco had injected 40 million pounds into the business in the form of a loan at the beginning of the year, as stated by Sky News.

Wilko has been a British high street staple for over 90 years, initially starting out as a single hardware store before expanding its retail network across the region.