The former chair of collapsed retail chain Wilko has told MPs that the retailer “ran out of cash” before a turnaround plan had time to take effect.
The business and trade committee heard Lisa Wilkinson explain a host of challenges, not least from high rents, before she spoke of her regrets about letting staff and customers down.
“I am devastated”, she said, before being asked if she wanted to say sorry, which she did.
She also admitted she has no financial qualifications.
The budget homewares retailer collapsed into administration in August, eventually leading to the closure of 400 stores and loss of more than 12,000 jobs after the failure of rescue talks.
Only a handful of roles were saved through the sale of dozens of sites to the owner of Poundland and B&M while The Range, another value retailer, bought Wilko’s brand and online assets.
But there was union fury over the build up to Wilko’s failure – blamed by the company on inflationary pressures and supply chain challenges.
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The GMB union accused the owners of bleeding Wilko dry through dividend payments.
Union national officer Nadine Houghton told the committee the company struggled from a lack of investment and leadership over many years, culminating in a weak response to challenges posed by higher than average rents and tough competition from discounters.
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She said £77m was paid out in dividends over the past decade.
A document by administrators PwC, that was seen by Sky News, showed the Wilkinson family received £9m in dividends between January 2019 and February 2022.
The most recent shareholder payout, amounting to £750,000, was made in February last year.
The GMB has previously called on the family to repay the money.
The PwC estimate showed that unsecured creditors, who include suppliers, employees and the pension fund, were due to receive as little as 4% of what they are owed by Wilko Ltd.
The defined benefit pension scheme has a deficit of more than £50m.
Another witness at the committee hearing said it was clear that auditors – an industry lambasted over previous failures such as at Carillion and BHS – had failed in their duty.
Atul Shah, professor of accounting and finance at City University, said annual audit reports by PwC and, from 2019, EY consistently showed the company had both “passed and failed” the key test, with the directors’ cash flow predictions likely to have eased worries about whether Wilko remained a going concern.
He believed the sale of Wilko’s distribution centre in Worksop was used to combat auditor concerns in 2021/22 – a report that was delayed by six months.
