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The former bosses and auditor of collapsed UK retail chain Wilko have been summoned to appear before MPs next week to explain why the 92-year-old company went bust.
The Commons’ business and trade committee has written to Wilko’s former chief executive and chair, and representatives at accountancy firm EY, to ask about the shortfall in Wilko’s pension fund and dividend payments it made “when it was heavily indebted”.
Wilko was one of the biggest retail casualties in the UK since the collapse of Sir Philip Green’s retail empire and department store chain Debenhams. It had 400 shops and employed about 12,000 staff before it disappeared from the high street.
MPs said on Thursday they wanted to probe a £50mn shortfall in Wilko’s pension fund and “the Wilkinson family’s justification for taking millions of pounds in dividends out of the firm”.
The company paid its owners £9mn in dividends since 2019, according to recent calculations from administrators at PwC.
Lisa Wilkinson, former chair and granddaughter of Wilko’s founder, is to be among those giving evidence, as well as Mark Jackson, the company’s chief executive when it collapsed in August. Union representatives, ministers and academics will also be quizzed on whether the retailer could have been saved.
Two partners at EY have also been called to appear before the committee. In November 2022, the audit firm said Wilko’s latest accounts gave a “true and fair” view of the company’s financial position.
Andrew Walton, UK head of audit at EY, and Victoria Venning, the partner at the firm who signed off Wilko’s accounts, will appear alongside Jackson and Wilkinson at the hearing.
In its audit opinion of Wilko’s accounts for the year to January 2022, EY said it was “appropriate” that the retailer’s financial statements were prepared on a going concern basis. However it drew attention to a warning made by the retailer’s directors, which said there was “material uncertainty” over its ability to continue as a going concern.
The Big Four firm, which had audited Wilko since 2020, said it was satisfied that the accounts for the 12 months to January 2022 gave a “true and fair” view of the company’s affairs.
EY said: “We welcome the opportunity to play an active and constructive role in the business and trade select committee inquiry on the collapse of Wilko.”
The Wilkinson family and Jackson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Jonathan Griffin, a director at Amalgamated Holdings Wilkinson Limited, the ultimate owner of Wilko, previously told the Financial Times that dividend payments did not contribute to Wilko going into administration. He said they “were paid within the financial framework regulating dividend payments and after the Wilko board had received a recommendation from the chief financial officer that it was prudent to pay them”.
