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Image source, Press Association Image caption, Poundland has filed a notice of intention to appoint administrators, which protects it from creditors until Thursday By Sarah Julian BBC Radio WM and Oprah Flash West Midlands A potential collapse of Poundland could impact all businesses on the high street, a West Midlands business owner has said. Poundland has filed a notice of intention to appoint administrators , which protects it from creditors until Thursday. Dr Lewis Haydon runs Raybloc, a radiation-shielding specialist firm in Willenhall.
He told the BBC that it has been a challenging time for businesses over the past few years, especially since retailer Wilko collapsed in 2023. "It's a real shame because we need these people to be going to the high street. [It] is all about income - income for the people [and] income for the businesses on the high street. If that income, the cash flow, isn't there, all businesses suffer." Image caption, Dr Lewis Haydon said local businesses will struggle with the impact Haydon added: "As an entrepreneur around that area, it's a real shame.
Because we've grown up understanding the success stories about Poundland - how it started off as a market stall and it gets larger and larger to a national success. "It gives us a lot of uncertainty that this may happen to us as a business as well. "All the employees that we employ, they're all thinking: 'Could this happen to us as well?'" He added it was "not good news" this close to Christmas.
Speaking to BBC Radio WM on Friday, Haydon said the move could also put pressure on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), who he said would struggle to hire those affected by the collapse. "If there's another 12,000 people looking for work in the community, it puts pressure on us, the small and medium-sized enterprises, to employ more people." Image caption, Following the announcement, staff gathered outside of the headquarters in Walsall in protest Poundland founder, Steve Smith, said two or three thousand suppliers, particularly those that work exclusively with Poundland, would also be caught up in any collapse. A second buyer, London-based Xyra Group, has made a rescue bid for the discount retailer as it teeters on the brink of collapse.
US-based owner Gordon Brothers has already rejected a rival bid from an Irish property group which would have saved its 12,000 staff. Gordon Brothers said the business has faced years of instability and "remains challenged and vulnerable". Sources familiar with Xyra's offer said the firm is proposing to immediately pay off £12.5 million of an outstanding £30 million loan on Poundland's books.
Gordon Brothers, which bought Poundland for £1 last June, committed at the meeting to prioritising offers that protect its stores and workforce. 'We need to stop decline of the high street' Raj Kandola, from The Black Country Chamber of Commerce, said the impact on people's livelihood "doesn't bear thinking about" and called on the government to help find a solution. "It comes down to the government creating a platform which helps businesses flourish, looking at how we can reform business rates even further to stop this decline of the high street." While the uncertainty lingers, Kandola said there is still hope for the region. "Businesses across the Black Country remain very resilient.
In the last 10 years they have seen the fallout from Brexit, Covid-19, the energy price hike following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and the majority of them still continue to display remarkable amount of resilience and continue to move forward." "There are obviously very wide ranging concerns but we shouldn't lose sight of the fact that the Black Country remains open for business." Get in touch Tell us which stories we should cover in Wolverhampton
Source: BBC
