Heartbroken Poundland workers protest outside head office in Walsall as firm moves to appoint administrators

Devastated workers at Poundland have told of their sadness at the news the beloved Black Country-founded business has moved to appoint administrators.

Armed with placards and banners, heartbroken staff staged a protest outside the company’s Walsall head office this afternoon (October 29) to highlight their plight and urge the firm’s owners Gordon Brothers to save the business by selling up.

Shop worker Claire Sutcliffe, team leader at the Walsall Park Street store, said: "It's very sad, it's not what we wanted.

“We've had customers come into the shop and say how disappointed they are."

Her plea to Gordon Brothers, which bought Poundland for £1 last summer from Pepco, was to rethink its decision and sell the company to Irish real estate firm Martin Property Group which had submitted a “fully funded, ready to go” bid to buy and continue the business.

She urged Gordon Brothers executives to “think of all the jobs that are going to be lost so near to Christmas”.

Kelvin Blake, aged 63, a worker at Poundland’s Birmingham city centre store, said he has worked for the business for 25 years.

“I’ve spent half my life here,” he said as he recounted how today’s announcement that the company was filing a notice of intention to appoint administrators had left staff feeling unappreciated.

“The morale is low. Staff don’t feel valued anymore.

“We’ve worked hard for the last 12 months to turn the business around and now we just feel like we’ve been smacked in the stomach.”

The union USDAW’s national officer Bally Auluk joined the protestors on the picket line at the Walsall headquarters where workers chanted “save our jobs” in the hope of raising the profile of their plight.

Mr Auluk said: "It's been a bit of a traumatic day. The workers have just found out the company is being put into administration.

“It's a necessary evil by Barry Williams, the MD, and his team. It's to protect the business from its owners, the majority shareholders at Gordon Brothers, from doing any further damage to the business like they've done this week by stopping the funding that they need on a day-to-day basis to pay suppliers and everybody else. It's a bit of a tough day for them.

"Poundland not only in the Black Country, where it originated, but around the country is an iconic discount retailer. For it to disappear off the high street - it would be a national scandal.

"There's absolutely no need for this. This company posted £65 million losses two years ago, last year after the restructure they posted £18m profit, and they're on course to make between £22m and £25m.

“How can the Gordon Brothers justify putting it into insolvency and selling it for its parts? For one reason only, they're in it for the money. They don't care about any of these workers or any of their colleagues around the country. They're quite happy to put a thriving business out on the street and close it down.

"The Gordon Brothers have refused every request to speak to them directly.”

‘Changing the goalposts’

He said union officials had met with Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds and government officials calling for help as he added: “Something has to be done - otherwise it's another discounted retailer that's going to disappear off the high street, and one that is actually very profitable.

“I need somebody to make this make sense - it doesn't make sense, other than the fact that it's pure greed.

"It will be a national scandal if this is allowed to happen.

"There's a preferred bidder in place with Martin Property Group who have jumped through hoops to meet all the criteria set by Gordon Brothers but every time they do they keep changing the goalposts.

"They appointed three independent directors two weeks ago. I met with two of them here on Monday and their preferred choice was to sell it to the Martin Property Group. But they said Gordon Brothers was not listening to them and taking their expert advice. They were left with no option but to resign the following day which they did en masse - all three of them. It doesn't make sense.

"It's all about financial greed.

"Let's be honest - they bought this business for £1. See the irony in that and the debt with it.

“The other minority shareholders are willing to work with them to extend the loan repayment of that debt but they're not listening.

"We're desperately trying everything we possibly can to support our members as a trade union in this difficult time."

Gordon Brothers has been approached for comment.

In its latest press statement the American investment firm said the sale process that has been going on for the last few weeks had “surfaced a number of formal and indicative offers for significant viable parts of the business from established retail operators”.

The firm said attention would turn to these bids after the rejection of a solvent offer by Martin Property Group - the preferred bidder identified by Poundland’s management team - which aimed to keep the business intact.

Poundland’s board, however, today said that in order to bring stability to proceedings it was filing a notice of intention (NOI) to appoint representatives of AlixPartners as administrators to the business.

In a statement the board said: “The filing of the NOI creates an immediate 10-working-day legal moratorium during which we will be working closely with our advisors to identify and deliver the best possible outcome.

“Our stores remain open as normal and we thank our staff, suppliers and customers for their continued support.”