At least four rival discount retailers have expressed an interest in making an offer for bust chain Wilko, sources have told The Sun. B&M Bargains, The Range, Poundland and Home Bargains have been linked with the firm that went into administration last week.
A range of discount retailers and financial investors are considering offers, although industry executives believe a takeover of the whole business is a remote prospect (Sky News).
Administrators at PwC have given suitors until the end of tomorrow to make rescue offers for the budget chain (The Times £).
Administrators at PricewaterhouseCoopers are understood to have moved the deadline for bids forward by several days to the end of the working day on Wednesday, as first reported by Sky News, because Wilko risks running out of money while the sale process takes place (The Guardian).
Wilko is continuing to trade and has not yet announced any redundancies after formally entering insolvency last week (Mail).
The market report in The Times (£) notes that hopes that B&M European Value Retail will take market share from the collapse of one of its high street rivals helped to lift the discount retailer to the top of the FTSE 100’s risers board yesterday.
Advising clients that they buy B&M shares, analysts at Deutsche Bank Research said: ‘The Wilko administration offers further opportunity for B&M to take market share.’ (Mail)
The Telegraph takes a look at the billionaire brothers at B&M poised to cash in on Wilko’s collapse.
Supermarkets have been accused of overcharging customers in rural areas for fuel, as petrol prices on forecourts in the UK hit their highest level for six months (The Guardian).
The chief executive of Harvey Nichols, Manju Malhotra, has quit abruptly following a clash with the luxury retailer’s Chinese owner over her plans for the business (Telegraph).
Heatwaves in southern Europe risk adding tens of billions of pounds to future grocery bills for people in Britain, researchers have warned (The Times £). According to an analysis by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, climate change is making it harder for countries in the Mediterranean to maintain food supplies, potentially pushing up the cost of kitchen staples including fresh fruit and vegetables.
Bright cereal packaging misleads parents into buying unhealthy foods and is fuelling obesity crisis, according to Action on Sugar (The Times £).
British companies are losing faith in the potential benefits of new free trade deals, government research shows, as exporters say Brexit has done more harm than good to their overseas sales (Financial Times £).
Former Top Gear host James May has said that “cheap supermarket booze” is threatening the traditional pub, with 50 closing in Britain every month (The Times £).
A Big Read in Financial Times (£) looks at how the middle-class consumer is adapting to rising living costs.
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