Doubts have emerged surrounding a controversial ‘fire sale’ property agreement that seems to indicate Wilko passed up on as much as £40m, all while the embattled retailer tried to stay above water.
The business fell into administration earlier this month, putting 12,000 jobs at risk after failing to secure a financial lifeline.
The Mail on Sunday reports that Wilko’s flagship depot was sold in a controversial sale and leaseback deal.
The 1.1m sq ft site at Manton Wood in Worksop, Nottinghamshire, was sold to logistics giant DHL last November for £48m.
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However two months later DHL sold the property for £88m to Canadian private equity firm Brookfield Asset Management, whose chairman is former Bank of England Governor Mark Carney.
Lord Mann, Labour MP for Bassetlaw said: “That’s too big a change in value over such a short period.”
Gordon Brown, Wilkinson’s managing director from 1992 to 2007, said the sale of Manton Wood for £48mwas ‘surprising’ as it cost £35m to build in 1994 and was expanded in the early 2000s. ‘I would have thought it would be worth more,’ he added.
The potential £40m that Wilko missed out on is identical to the sum it borrowed earlier this year from private equity firm Hilco.
A well-placed source said the Wilko deal was a ‘fire sale’, adding: ‘They needed cash desperately.’
The revelations come after The Mail on Sunday established that £77m had been taken out of the business in dividends in the last decade, including in years when the 93-year-old chain – owned by the descendants of founder James Kempsey Wilkinson – made a loss.
Potential bidders for some or all of Wilko’s 400 stores include its discount rivals B&M, Poundland and The Range.
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5 Comments. Leave new
Here we go, the questions are starting to get asked….how bad were things at Wilko to have to sell and lease back distribution… At such a loss and still get a loan… STILL pay out dividends and now 12000 jobs are at risk. The Wilkinsons are ok though aren’t they…
It’s just shocking. But yes, Karin Swann and Lisa Wilkinson and all their families will be just fine.
“A well-placed source said the Wilko deal was a ‘fire sale’, adding: ‘They needed cash desperately”
Sums it up really from start to finish, bad management still can’t take any blame for what has happened, it was covid before that. The company was losing money before 2019.
Store managers alerting the company of competitors prices. Using out of date software the list goes on.
Pity Gordon Brown isn’t still there, a guy who knows about how to manage a business
your not wrong GRSB was the most diligent and talented leader they had his tenure speaks for itself
The sales to DHL can be wound back by the administration; and it should be. This is scandelouse.