Wilko’s former chief executive has said that “the start of Wilko’s problems” might have come with “an enormous mistake” that it made in 2018.
The 93-year-old discount chain collapsed in August 2023, leaving 12,000 workers facing redundancy.
Mark Jackson said: “There was a big loss in 2018/19, which was referred to – and I have to say it’s conjecture – as the start of Wilko’s problems.”
“It bought all of its Far East products in US dollars. It took out forward-rate contracts to fix the price it was buying at, and it made an enormous mistake. And there was, I believe, a loss in the region of £40million.”
Mr Jackson, who joined the company in December 2022, also revealed that Wilko came close to finding a rescue deal, but ultimately failed.
He said: “I knew what I was coming into. I came in knowing that the business was in distress and that there was a window of opportunity to turn it around.
“I still think it was a decent opportunity. A number of things went against us. I still think this business should exist and I think somebody should have invested in it.”
He added: “The management team went to around 20 private equity types of investors as well as debt providers, and we got very close.”
Asked why the opportunity was not seized, he said: “Because we couldn’t get the funders to back it. It was pursued; I knocked down an awful lot of doors more than once.
“We had interested parties right up to the beginning of August who were really keen to save the business and, I thought, still a very good chance of doing so.
“Ultimately, the amount of security in the balance sheet was falling every day… the amount secured lenders were prepared to lend was reducing.”
The revelations come during a Business and Trade Committee hearing on the collapse of Wilko, involving witnesses such as Wilko’s former chair and granddaughter of the founder Lisa Wilkinson, as well as business minister Kevin Hollinrake.
Speaking to MPs on the Committee, Ms Wilkinson said she is “devastated” to have let so many people down.
Ms Wilkinson said: “I am devastated that we have let each and every one of those people down with the insolvency of Wilko,” she said. I don’t know how to put into words how sad I am that we have let down all our team members, all our customers, our suppliers, and our advisers.”
Pushed by committee chairman Liam Byrne to apologise directly, Ms Wilkinson said: “You can have the word sorry, of course I am sorry… I am sorry that we are not there supporting these people anymore.”
Ms Wilkinson also said former prime minister Liz Truss’s mini-budget was one of the reasons behind the company’s collapse.
She said: “We were about to enter into secured lending arrangements with Macquarie when the 2022 mini-budget happened.
“Literally we were in the midst of that, and at that point, the interest terms on that loan were hiked massively and that became infeasible. So, that was a contributor.”
