Privately owned, everyday household and garden retailer, wilko has agreed a £40m two-year revolving credit facility with Hilco to allow it to significantly increase financial flexibility as it accelerates plans for turnaround.
This backstop facility is in addition to the recently announced injection of £48m from the sale and leaseback of its Worksop distribution centre and ongoing re-gearing negotiation successes with landlords, which together provide financial stability through this tough trading period.
Against a backdrop of major supply chain disruptions and significant footfall declines, particularly on the high street, Nottinghamshire-headquartered wilko says it recognises that it has not been performing to its full potential and is making strategic changes, including accelerating its omni-channel offer to turnaround the business.
In order to do this, the 92-year old retailer is additionally making big changes to its leadership team.
In December wilko announced the appointment of Mark Jackson as CEO. Latterly CEO of Benson’s for Beds, Mark helped lead the business sale and successfully delivered the turnaround and transformation process, driving the retailer back to profitability. Prior to that he was founding member of the Pep & Co start-up (value clothing chain). Mark will be working closely with wilko’s senior team to drive wilko forward and deliver the turnaround programme.
Chris Howell joins wilko as chair and non-executive director. Chris successfully chairs numerous high-profile UK & international businesses and is highly experienced in leading businesses through challenging situations and change. His leadership of the board will ensure smooth transformational change in the short-term and into the future. Major shareholder Lisa Wilkinson will step aside as chair but will remain on the board as family director, alongside Dalton Philips who remains as non-executive director.
Natasja Laheij joins wilko as non-executive director and chair of Audit and Risk following Chris Martin standing down in November having completed his 3 year stint with wilko. A performance focussed senior finance professional, Natasja holds a senior finance director EMEA position at Google and board member for Google Payments Ltd. Previously Natasja was a senior finance professional at Amazon.
Family director Lisa Wilkinson says: “Our history is steeped in serving customers and communities going back to 1930. Right now we’re making necessary changes to restore confidence and safeguard the future of the business. That includes making sure we have the right leadership in place – one aligned team with the right expertise to deliver the retail experience our customers are demanding of us today.”
Wilko is the UK’s 23rd biggest retailer with 400+ stores, employing 16,000 staff.
