High street chain Wilko has said it is on the brink of administration, putting roughly 12,000 jobs at risk.
The retailer said despite buyers’ offers, it did not have an offer to provide “necessary liquidity” to deal with “mounting cash pressures”.
The retailer has emerged as one of the first major victims of spiking interest rates rises that started in December 2021, which on Thursday were put up to 5.25 per cent.
Wilko chief executive officer Mark Jackson said: “While we can confirm we've had a significant level of interest, including indicative offers that we believe would meet all our financial criteria to recapitalise the business, at present, we don't today have an offer that provides the necessary liquidity in the time we have available, given the mounting cash pressures we're faced with.
“Unfortunately, with this in mind, today we're having to take the difficult decision to file a notice of intention.
“We'll continue to progress discussions with interested parties with the aim of completing a transaction which preserves the business and will encourage those interested parties we're in discussions with to move as fast as possible.
“We continue to believe that our robust turnaround plan, with significant re-stabilisation cost savings in progress, will deliver a profitable Wilko and maximise the significant opportunities that we know exist.”
Wilko operates from 400 stores across the UK, where it competes with rivals such as B&M and has an annual turnover of £1.2 billion.
In court filings, the homeware and hardware chain said it had recently enlisted advisory firm PricewaterhouseCoopers to try to find a buyer in an attempt to secure additional cash.
A notice of intention to appoint administrators does not necessarily mean that a firm will go into insolvency, but it gives trouble-hit businesses time to attempt to shore up their finances, such as by finding a buyer.
Rising energy costs and squeezed household budgets have both proved difficult for many retailers.
Both Made.com and clothing shop Joules went into administration last year, but both were rescued in deals with high street retailer Next.
