// Wilko has secured a £40m lifeline from Homebase and Cath Kidston owner Hilco UK
// The discount retailer reported a loss of £36.8 million in the year to January 29, 2022
Wilko has secured a £40m funding lifeline from Hilco UK, one of the high street’s most prolific investors and owner of Homebase and Cath Kidston, Sky News has reported.
Details of the loan deal were filed at Companies House late last month, and come amid expectations of a challenging trading environment for retailers in 2023 as sales are predicted to grow between 1% and 2.3%, shadowed by rising inflation and weakened consumer demand.
Hilco, which specialises in distress situations, has provided a £40m asset-based credit facility.
According to documents filed at Companies House, Hilco has been given security over much of Wilko’s intellectual property, including its logo, marketing slogans and various own-label product names.
Wilko has also replaced chair Lisa Wilkinson, the granddaughter of the retailer’s founder, with restructuring expert Chris Howell.
Howell previously worked with Mark Jackson, who replaced Jerome Saint-Marc as Wilko chief executive last month, at Bensons for Beds.
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Natasja Laheij, a senior finance director at Google’s European subsidiary, will also become a non-executive at the retailer.
Wilkinson said it was “making necessary changes to restore confidence and safeguard the future of the business” and that the new appointments created “one aligned team with the right expertise”.
Founded as a hardware store in 1930, the discount retailer employs roughly 15,000 people and trades across the UK from about 400 stores.
The retailer swung to a £36.8m loss at the beginning of the year after lockdowns, supply chain disruption and a dip in consumer demand impacted trading.
In 2022 the retailer warned that there was a risk of it running out of cash by the end of 2023 if trading conditions deteriorated further.
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