5,100 jobs at risk as Poundworld enters administration

Value retailer Poundworld has become the latest retail casualty as it announced it has entered administration, putting more than 5,100 jobs at risk.

Deloitte has been appointed to handle the administration process after last-ditch rescue talks with buy-out firm R Capital broke down.

Wakefield-headquartered Poundworld, which has 5,100 workers and 355 stores across the UK, is owned by TPG Capital.

Chris Edwards, Poundworld’s founder, has now said he is considering buying back some of the discount retailer’s stores. Edwards founded the firm in Wakefield in 1974 and sold the business in 2015 for £150m to TPG Capital.

But he said no deal had been finalised and the discounter would only survive another two weeks without a buyer.

Announcing the administration status, Deloitte said the stores would continue to trade as normal with no redundancies at this time.

A statement said: “Like many high street retailers, Poundworld has suffered from high product cost inflation, decreasing footfall, weaker consumer confidence and an increasingly competitive discount retail market.

Clare Boardman, joint administrator at Deloitte, said: “The retail trading environment in the UK remains extremely challenging and Poundworld has been seeking to address this through a restructure of its business.

“Unfortunately, this has not been possible.”

TPG, which bought a majority stake in Poundworld in 2015, also controls the restaurant chain Prezzo whose landlords and creditors agreed a restructuring last month.

Poundworld offers around 8,000 product lines mostly priced at £1, including groceries, toiletries, household cleaning and confectionery items. Its collapse comes after both Toys R Us and Maplin fell into administration earlier this year, and just days after House of Fraser announced plans to shut 31 stores, affecting around 6,000 jobs.