[ad_1]
The brand of collapsed value retailer Wilko is to live on, it has been confirmed, and some job losses have been prevented through a deal struck by administrators.
Rival discount chain The Range has bought the Wilko brand, its website and retained the company’s digital trading team which comprises 36 members of staff.
The sum was not disclosed but Sky News had reported on Wednesday how The Range was believed to be paying £5m for the brand.
The company, which has 213 stores across the UK trading under The Range name, added that it planned to bring back the Wilko name to high streets but did not give further details.
It is the latest in a series of transactions signed by administrators at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) as more than 10,000 job losses loom at Wilko following its collapse four weeks ago.
While 120 stores – more than a quarter of Wilko’s estate – have been sold to B&M European Value Retail and Poundland’s owner, it remains unclear whether any staff working at those stores will be transferred to their new owners.
Full list of Wilko stores set to become Poundland
Doug Putman, the HMV owner, pulled out of a deal to salvage as many as 300 shops after his financing was cancelled.
Prior to the collapse of that transaction, PwC had already announced about 1,600 redundancies since the family-owned chain crashed into insolvency last month.
Wilko – owned by the founding Wilkinson family for decades – had been seeking external investment for months prior to its collapse.
[ad_2]
