The closing shop chains thread...

[rebbonk]

Administrators appointed to 29 companies in billionaire’s holiday park group

29 RoyaleLife holiday parks, developments and property companies have collapsed into administration at the peak of the summer holiday season, TheBusinessDesk.com can exclusively reveal.

The court action comes weeks after their parent company, Royale Parks, and a small number of resorts, including Billing Aquadrome and Cogenhoe Mill in Northamptonshire, also appointed administrators.

The affected sites are mainly along the south coast, but there are also developments in the North West, East Midlands, South West and East Anglia that are no longer in the company’s control.

The RoyaleLife group is owned by billionaire Robert Bull, who was ranked 88th in the Sunday Times Rich List this May with a net worth of nearly £2bn.

Last month he claimed winding up orders were “based on false claims and unfounded information” and said they were the subject of legal action.

However in a High Court judgement by Judge Barber handed down on July 28, she refused to strike out a winding-up petition filed against a property company he wholly owned, Time GB Group.

Barber also issued strong criticism of Bull, former Time GB Group director James Williams, and Pinder Reaux solicitor Olivia Taylor-James for their evidence.

She said: “Whilst strictly unnecessary for the purpose of this application, I would add that on the evidence before me, the Applicant [Time GB Group] appears to be hopelessly insolvent. The assertions as to solvency made in the witness statements of each of Mr Bull, Ms Taylor-James and Mr Williams are regrettable.”

There is also a separate breach of contract action by Bull, Time GB Group and related companies against Sines Parks Holdings, which applied to put some of Bull’s companies into administration.

The actions by Sines Parks appears to have influenced lenders and started a domino effect culminating in today’s administration appointments.

Only last month RoyaleLife said it is building in 64 different residential bungalow communities with 40 more in planning and development. The group has more than 200 legal entities.

At the time Bull, the group’s executive chairman, said a recapitalisation of the business was taking place with the aim of installing 1,000 bungalows across the UK, starting later this year.

The affected sites are:

Cheshire:
Moore Lane, Warrington

Cornwall:
Budemeadows Country Park, Bude
Dolbeare Court, Saltash

Devon:
Oakleigh Court, Dolton
Regency Court, Newton Abbot
Regency Place, Newton Abbot

Dorset:
Christchurch Marina Park, Christchurch
Matchams Lane, Christchurch
Beacon Hill, Poole
Manor Farm Park, Poole
Matchams Leisure Park, Ringwood
Silver Mist, Ringwood
Dorset Heights, Wareham
Deers Court, Wimbourne
New Forest Court, Wimborne

Essex:
Dunton Park, Royal Dunton Court, nr Brentwood

Gloucestershire:
Montserrat Caravan Park, Stroud

Hampshire:
Frensham Country Park, Churt
Milford on Sea Park, Lymington
Wickham Court, North Boarhunt

Isle of Wight:
Fort Caravan Park, Sandown
IOW View, Sandown

Kent:
Reculver Court, Herne Bay
Waterways, Herne Bay

Norfolk:
Plum Tree Country Park, Thetford
Redhill Residential Park, Watton

Nottinghamshire:
Sherwood Court, Newark

Rutland:
Ranksborough Hall Estates, Oakham

The holding company for the group’s Hampshire head office property, North Boarhunt 1, has also fallen into administration today.

RoyaleParks has been approached for comment.

Source: https://www.thebusinessdesk.com/south-west/news/6509-exclusive-administrators-appointed-to-29-companies-in-billionaires-holiday-park-group May require sign up

[dutchman]

Council in limbo over plans to move Nuneaton Wilko to former Woolworths building as firm goes into administration



Council bosses are in limbo over the future of one of its biggest units in Nuneaton town centre - the former Woolworths store. It had agreed a contract with Wilko for the store to move from its current home in Church Street to 22 Queens Road.

This move was scheduled to take place next month but now it remains up in the air after the national firm went into administrators. Wilko's administrator PwC say that potential buyers have until tomorrow (August 16) to make an offer. Even if part of the company is rescued, the future of the Nuneaton branch is not guaranteed.

This means that the move to the council owned building, which played home to Woolworths as well as Poundland and TJ Hughes, is at risk. Worst case scenario for the council is the deal falling through and it is left to find another firm to move in.

In a statement, Town Hall leader, councillor Kris Wilson, said: "Ever since the news about Wilko’s difficulties was announced we have been monitoring the situation very closely. As it stands, Wilko has taken a lease of 22 Queens Road, Nuneaton from the Borough Council to facilitate the relocation of their business from Church Street.

"The national position regarding the company is obviously a great cause for concern. But, we now need the administrator appointed to run the business to determine how they want to proceed before we can make any further comment or decisions."

CoventryLive has contacted administrators PwC about the move and the future of the local store. In the meantime, an administration sale is underway at the local Wilko branch. Shoppers have been able to pick-up bargains from the store.

Signs have appeared on the windows that say 'Wilko administration sale. 1,000s of reductions throughout the store.'

[dutchman]

I'll hazard a guess here... IT AIN'T GONNA HAPPEN!

[dutchman]

Closure date confirmed for Boots Coventry store and pharmacy

A closure date has been confirmed for a Boots store and pharmacy branch in the heart of a Coventry community. Earlier this month a campaign was launched to save the branch at 116-120 Jardine Crescent.

In the latest campaign update from MP Taiwo Owatemi, who has launched a petition to keep the branch open, it states that the closure date has been set for October 27. In the petition, she calls on Boots bosses to have a change of heart about the store, which she says is at the 'heart of the community'.

"This news is deeply worrying for many elderly people in the local area who use this store and all those who rely on the support and advice provided by staff in our local Boots pharmacy," the Coventry North West's petition states. "As the only pharmacy in Jardine Crescent, the closure will not only impact patient access to medicine but will exacerbate health inequality in the area.

"Customers relying on the local Boots pharmacy will now have to travel to the Boots store at Cannon Park which is two miles away. This will disproportionately impact those with travelling difficulties including disabled and elderly customers. During a cost-of-living crisis, people should not have to pay for travel to their local pharmacy.

"During the pandemic, the local pharmacy provided people with support and confidence and over the years, pharmacy staff have built close relationships with customers and local GPs. With the closure, these important relationships will be lost. Our local pharmacy is the heart of the community."

It is understood that the Jardine Crescent branch is one several hundred to be closed across the country. Anyone who would like to sign the petition can do so here

[rebbonk]

Pizza Hut restaurant in Coventry closes suddenly



A second Pizza Hut restaurant has permanently closed down in Coventry in less than a year. Pizza Hut, at Arena Shopping Park, shut its doors in the last few days, it is understood.

Looks like they may have more trouble on the horizon...

Pizza Hut’s future in doubt as debt crisis looms
Auditor warns of finance crunch as high rates and inflation deepen losses

Pizza Hut’s UK restaurant business has plunged into a debt crisis as it grapples with the fallout from soaring inflation.
The US giant’s biggest British franchise, with more than 4,000 workers in 152 outlets, is locked in tense negotiations to refinance tens of millions of pounds due to be repaid to lenders in April.

Bosses have been forced to seek revised terms on its debt this year as soaring prices pushed the company further into losses in 2022, despite benefiting from the relaxation of Covid restrictions.

Auditor PwC warned in accounts published yesterday that Pizza Hut UK faced a “material uncertainty which may cast significant doubt about the ... ability to continue as a going concern”.

Earlier this year, Pizza Hut’s lender relaxed the group’s banking covenants — strict rules that must be adhered to avoid default on debts — as bosses at the chain struggled with “the unprecedented inflationary pressures which emerged in 2022”, the company said. Despite this, Pizza Hut’s restaurant arm warned that it could yet breach its covenants in the final three months of this year in a “severe but plausible downside scenario”.

Pizza Hut must repay £31 million of its £73 million of debts in April 2024.

In 1973, Pizza Hut took the UK by storm when it launched in Islington, north London, popularising the American-style pizza. At its height in the 1980s, it was opening an average of one restaurant a week in the UK as families flocked to fill their plates at its all-you-can-eat salad bar.

In 2012, the brand’s US owner Yum! Brands — formerly PepsiCo’s restaurant arm — sold the UK restaurants franchise to private equity group Rutland Partners, best known for previously owning turkey farmer Bernard Matthews. Yum!, which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, also owns the KFC and Taco Bell brands.

Jens Hofma, who has run Pizza Hut UK’s operations for nearly a decade and a half, led a management buyout from Rutland in 2018 in a deal worth a reported £100 million. The takeaway outlets are run separately by individual franchisees. When these are included, the business employs 12,000 people at 500 sites.

Hofma was backed by Pricoa, a subsidiary of The Prudential Insurance Company of America, which remains Pizza Hut UK’s main lender. Pizza Hut UK’s debt attracts interest payments of up to 14 per cent. The business has been loss-making at operating basis for the last two years and was £16.5 million in the red in the year to December 2022.

UK lenders are bracing for defaults next year as debts taken out during the pandemic fall due for repayment. The process of refinancing loans will be complicated by higher interest rates, which risk making legacy debts unaffordable.

Evidence is mounting that the economy — which has defied warnings of a recession — is starting to cool after 14 consecutive rises in interest rates since December 2021; it is now at 5.25 per cent.

The closely-watched Purchasing Managers Index for August showed the weakest monthly performance since January 2021. It fell below the important 50 mark, showing a contraction, from 50.8 in July to 47.9 per cent in August.

Other indicators, though, are showing that consumer sentiment is picking up after the fall in consumer prices index inflation to 6.8 per cent in July — still above the Bank’s 2 per cent target but down from the 40-year high of October 2022, when it hit 11.1 per cent.

Hofma said: “We remain optimistic, given that the demand for the restaurant experience remains strong.”

Fifty years of table and takeaway

Residents and visitors to Islington were in for a treat last month. Pizza Hut was offering £1 pizzas to celebrate its 50 years since the restaurant chain opened in the UK.

In 1973, the Pizza Hut opened in the very same north London borough. It was not the first pizza restaurant, however. The Olivelli restaurant in Bloomsbury opened its doors in 1934 with documents found on the premises including a recipe for margherita pizza. And the first Pizza Express sprung up in Wardour Street in 1965.

But by the 1980s Pizza Hut was on the move, bringing Britons deep pan pizza for the first time. The UK’s appetite was so strong that in 1987, Pizza Hut averaged a new restaurant opening once a week.

In 1995 came the stuffed crust. These days a staple in supermarkets, it was a mind-blowing phenomenon for customers with a passion for an extra cheesy hit.

The 1990s also saw a new advertising push starring the likes of Gareth Southgate — now England football manager, then maligned penalty kick choker from the 1996 European Championships — as well as Mikhail Gorbachev.

The father of a family sitting in a Pizza Hut in Red Square notices the former leader of the Soviet Union and scoffs: “Because of him we have economic confusion.” His children manage to persuade him otherwise and diners stand up to salute Gorbachev. “Sometimes, nothing brings people together better than a nice hot pizza from Pizza Hut,” said the voiceover.

As Pizza Express began eating Pizza Hut’s lunch, the “Italian Pizza” was launched in 1999 as Pizza Hut sensed the era of deep-pan was on the wane. And a year later came “The Edge”, a pizza whose toppings go all the way around the edge.

In 2011 came “Salad Days” where patrons could gorge themselves on salad with unlimited trips to the salad station. It was “a fit of generosity not appreciated by the accounts department”, the chain conceded.

[/quote]
Source: https://archive.ph/d4l8c

[dutchman]

Wilko closures and job losses on hold as administrator considers rescue bids



Plans for redundancies and store closures at Wilko have been put on hold as administrators consider two potential last-ditch rescue bids that emerged over the bank holiday weekend.

Administrators from PricewaterhouseCoopers, who were called in earlier this month as Wilko ran short of cash, had warned that redundancies would start within weeks as there had been no viable bids for the bulk of the company. The group employs nearly 12,500 people.

Doug Putman, the owner of HMV in the UK and Toys R Us in Canada, is understood to have increased his bid on Friday’s deadline, offering to take on up to 350 of Wilko’s 400 stores and ensure the main creditors – led by the restructuring specialist Hilco – were paid. A previous bid from Putman would have involved saving 200 stores.

Another potential offer has emerged from M2, a restructuring specialist that claims to own the Como hotels group and is in the process of buying the Michigan-based car parts maker Superior Industries. M2 is understood to have put forward a bid that would keep the entire Wilko chain trading.

M2 has written to administrators questioning whether the bid process was “fair and transparent” as it was given a deadline to provide details of its funding on a UK bank holiday.

However, a source close to the process questioned the credibility of the M2 bid, which was put forward very late on the final day for offers, and whether the finance group had the required funds available.

Andy Prendergast, the national secretary of the GMB union, which represents thousands of Wilko staff, said: “There appears to be a glimmer of hope but there is still a long way to go.

“We don’t want to get carried away as our members deserve certainty, but we are hopeful that jobs can be protected.”

[rebbonk]

B&M agrees to buy 51 Wilko stores as hopes for wider rescue fade

B&M has agreed to buy 51 Wilko stores, as reports suggest a wider rescue of the collapsed retailer is now increasingly unlikely.

B&M said this morning it had agreed to pay up to £13m from existing cash reserves for the stores, with an update on when they will open to be provided in its first-half results in November.

B&M has not said whether Wilko staff will retain their jobs at the stores, which it is likely to covert to its own fascia. It indicated a further announcement may follow this afternoon.

The announcement has been taken as a sign that a rescue of Wilko’s other 350 stores and brand is unlikely. Reports suggest HMV owner Doug Putman, who had tabled a deal to buy 300 stores, is now in talks over 200 instead. Putman’s initial rescue bid is said to have run into problems as major suppliers demanded debts were repaid before supplying stores, The Sun reported.

M2 Capital, which last week offered hope to Wilko’s 12,500 employees with an offer to buy the whole chain, now faces criticism for holding up the process after failing to provide administrators at PwC with requested details of financing. Redundancies at Wilko’s support centre and distribution centres began this week after the bid fell through.

Wilko entered administration on 10 August, after failed attempts to find a buyer for the 93-year-old discounter. The retailer was in the midst of a turnaround plan aimed at cutting costs and growing online sales.

In the months leading to its collapse, it sold its Worksop distribution centre for £48m and secured a £40m two-year revolving credit facility from lender and Homebase owner Hilco UK. It had also hoped to launch a company voluntary arrangement, a restructuring process involving reduced rents for stores.

Lisa Wilkinson, granddaughter of Wilko founder James Kemsey Wilkinson and major shareholder of the retail chain, stepped aside as chair in January.

Source: https://www.thegrocer.co.uk/discounters/bandm-agrees-to-buy-51-wilko-stores-as-hopes-for-wider-rescue-fade/682866.article

[dutchman]

'Ghost town' fears as jobs lost in Coventry in wake of Wilko collapse



Coventry could soon resemble a 'ghost town' unless more is done to drive shoppers into the city centre. Councillor Gary Ridley, leader of Coventry's Conservative group, made the claim as he expressed fears for the high street in the wake of Wilko's sad demise.

Wilko, which was founded in Leicester, is set to close some of its 400+ UK stores, including its branches in Cathedral Lanes and Cannon Park Shopping Centre, after the homeware retailer failed to find a buyer. The firm's collapse is expected to result in thousands of redundancies nationwide.

Some stores will be rebranded as Poundland after a rescue deal was agreed but this does not include any in Coventry or Warwickshire. Cllr Ridley says empty shop units, especially those the size of Wilko in Broadgate, spell trouble for Coventry. "My concern is that we end up with our own modern ghost town," Mr Ridley told CoventryLive.

"My concern from a Coventry City Council perspective is that another large unit empty in the city is not what we want to see with a huge expensive regeneration project about to take place. We need shops that attract people in and without Wilko we might see a drop in footfall and that might impact on other shops."

As a regular Wilko shopper himself, Mr Ridley said he was 'sad and surprised' by the chain's demise. "My thoughts are with those who are losing their jobs at such a terrible time with the cost of living still so high," said the Conservatives chief, who also questioned what more the city council can do to protect businesses.

"What plans are there to get that vacant unit filled? I'm worried about that and the potential knock-on. Beyond that, the council could be working with traders on turnover based rent."

Mr Ridley added: "Broadgate square; that looks great now. There's lots in Cathedral Lanes and it's doing well now. They are great places to visit, but another vacant unit is the last thing we need.

"Our high street is going through big changes at the minute, and not just in Coventry. Do we make city centres more about leisure destinations? We need to keep hold of as many visitors to the city centre as possible."

[rebbonk]

Where's O'Boyle? What has the useless excuse for a human being got to say for his strategy?

[dutchman]

Date confirmed when two Wilko stores in Coventry will close for good



The date has been confirmed when Wilko stores in Coventry will close for good. The city is home to two outlets of the national chain, which went into administration last month.

A rescue deal was reached to turn some stores into Poundland, but none of the Coventry or Warwickshire outlets were included. Earlier this week the date was announced when stores across Warwickshire, including in Nuneaton, Leamington and Rugby, would be closing, but Coventry stores were not on the list.

It was known however, that Coventry’s city centre and Cannon Park stores would be closing.

It sparked fears of a ‘ghost town’ amongst readers as the city centre store occupies a large unit in Broadgate.

It’s now been confirmed that the Broadgate store will close on Sunday, October 8, one of the last Wilko stores to close its doors.

The Cannon Park store will close on Tuesday, October 3.