THE former owner of WILKO has blamed Liz Truss’s mini-budget for toppling the retail chain.
At a Westminster grilling yesterday ex-chairman Lisa Wilkinson said the former prime minister had scuppered an attempt to refinance last year.
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She said Wilko had been negotiating a new lending facility with Macquarie Bank but the interest payments shot up in the wake of the budget turmoil, making the loan “infeasible”.
She claimed this then prompted another lender, Lloyds, to lose confidence and credit insurers to remove cover.
Ms Wilkinson said as a result stock was not shipped to stores and falling sales meant the business ran out of cash.
The Wilkinson family have come under huge scrutiny since Wilko’s failure as they took £100million in dividends over the past ten years which experts have said starved the business of much-needed cash.
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The family received £7.5million in dividends between 2019 and 2022, about two-thirds of Wilko’s profits over the time.
Work and Pensions Committee chairman Liam Byrne said they were “burgling a failing business”.
But Ms Wilkinson said that none of her family “have assets to fill a £50million hole in the pension scheme”.
Former boss Mark Jackson said that the chain should have furloughed staff during the pandemic and cut rents.
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Ms Wilkinson apologised to staff, saying she was devastated by the firm’s insolvency.
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Pint hike a bitter blow
THE maker of Spitfire beers has been accused of being the Grinch for hiking the price of its ales before Christmas.
A landlord said they had received a letter from Shepherd Neame saying it would raise the price of its beer again by another 3.8 per cent — days after the Chancellor said he would freeze the booze levy.
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The brewer, famously once advertised by comic duo Armstrong and Miller, told pubs the higher pricing would affect deliveries from December 4.
Boss Jonathan Neame said: “The hospitality industry remains one of the highest taxed in the world.
“Duty is just one of the elements which make up the price of a pint.”
Sainsbury’s boss says costs to increase
THE boss of Sainsbury’s has said the Autumn Statement’s failure to address the business rates system risks stoking inflation as stores will be hit by even higher costs next year.
Chief executive Simon Roberts told The Sun he was pleased the Statement’s cut to national insurance was “giving customers a few more pennies and pounds in their pocket — that’s a good thing.”
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But he added Sainsbury’s had called for changes to business rates to prevent them adding another seven per cent to shoppers’ bills next year.
He said: “That’s another £30million to £40million that we could be investing in prices.
“My concern is that it puts pressure on inflation at a time when the food industry has lent in very hard to help.”
Mr Roberts said Sainsbury’s had already invested millions of pounds in lowering prices.
He claimed the retailer had raised its prices less than rivals and shielded customers from rising costs.
After launching a strategy two years ago to make Sainsbury’s more competitive on food prices, Mr Roberts said the retailer was launching an “inflation-busting Christmas deal”.
From today, Sainsbury’s will be selling Christmas lunch for five people — including a turkey, stuffing, gravy, vegetables, pigs in blankets and a trifle — for less than £20 with its Nectar card.
Mr Roberts said: “This is the best value we’ve ever been and comes two and half years into our strategy to focus on food.”
Hols top wish
AIRLINE EASYJET says the cost-of-living blues have put holidays at the top of people’s spending plans.
The budget carrier found that two-thirds of adults said they were more likely to travel abroad next year and would cut back on clothes and meals out to afford trips.
A bookings boom pushed easyJet’s annual sales up by 41 per cent to £8.17billion with profits of £432million compared with a loss of £208million last year.
The airline’s average fare rose to £80 in the past year.
Amazon turning new page
AMAZON is opening a central London store to sell returned books, toys, appliances and electronics at a 50 per cent discount.
The Second Chance store will open in the next two weeks to raise money for Barnado’s children’s charity.
On proft roles
ROLLS-ROYCE is planning to offload its electric aircraft division as the engineer’s new boss aims for record profits.
Tufan Erginbilgic spooked the City in January when he said the FTSE 100 firm was on a “burning platform” that had to transform to survive.
He announced yesterday that the company would dispose of £1.5billion worth of business over the next two years while he focuses on plans to more than double its profits to £2.8billion.
He said “We are creating a resilient Rolls-Royce.”
