Poundland is reportedly preparing to enter administration after its owners, who acquired the discount retailer for £1, turned down a proposed rescue deal.
The company, which employs approximately 12,000 people, is expected to file a notice of intention to appoint administrators. The move follows a year of unsuccessful efforts to revive the business, despite up to £80million being made available in financial support.
If the High Court approves the notice, Poundland will gain temporary protection while it searches for another buyer or rescue arrangement. The preferred offer was rejected by US owners Gordon Brothers.
The decision has angered Poundland executives, who had backed a takeover proposal from Martin Property Group.
Gordon Brothers rejected the proposal, which would have preserved the retailer as a whole, because Martin Property Group would not agree to settle a £30million shareholder loan inherited when Poundland was purchased in June 2025.
Managing director Barry Williams described the crisis to staff as ‘unexpected, unwanted and wholly avoidable’.
Three directors brought in only two weeks earlier to supervise a possible sale have resigned in protest.
With unions warning that thousands of jobs could be at risk before Christmas, Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds has written to Gordon Brothers demanding an explanation for its decision.
Poundland is close to appointing administrators after its proposed rescue deal fell apart
Billionaire retailer Chris Dawson is reportedly among those considering a rescue bid, having previously stepped in to acquire Wilko and parts of Homebase
Dawson built his fortune after launching the homeware retailer The Range in Plymouth in 1989
Poundland abandoned its ‘where everything’s £1’ slogan in 2019 as it broadened its product range. The retailer now has around 600 shops and two distribution centres, including one in Andy Burnham’s Makerfield constituency.
Following the Gordon Brothers takeover last year, Poundland shut between 150 and 200 stores, along with warehouses in South Yorkshire and the West Midlands. It recorded an £85m pre-tax loss for the year ending September 2025.
With no rescue agreement secured, Poundland is moving rapidly towards insolvency. The business could be broken up and sold in parts, or transferred to a new owner through a pre-pack administration. Both outcomes could result in further shop closures and job losses.
Several possible buyers are reportedly watching the situation, including discount chains Lidl, Iceland and B&M, Modella, the owner of TG Jones, and retail entrepreneur Chris Dawson.
Dawson, who made his name by establishing The Range, has increasingly become associated with rescuing struggling British retail brands. He bought Wilko and parts of Homebase as both businesses approached collapse.
The 74-year-old is widely known as the ‘Del Boy Billionaire’. He began his career selling goods on markets in Plymouth, drawing comparisons with David Jason’s fast-talking wheeler-dealer from Only Fools and Horses.
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Unlike his fictional inspiration, Dawson has achieved considerable commercial success, despite living with dyslexia. He cannot write and did not learn to read until he was 27.
Even in an era dominated by email, he prefers to conduct business face to face or by telephone.
That direct approach has served him well. Instead of travelling in a battered Reliant Regal, Dawson is known to drive a yellow Lamborghini Urus super-SUV featuring the personalised number plate DE11 BOY. The registration has previously been displayed on a Rolls-Royce and a Bentley.
Another plate, DAW50N, is currently attached to a bright orange Lamborghini Revuelto, while the billionaire is also known to have owned Range Rovers and a Ferrari 458 with a flashy paint job inspired by the Italian flag.
Dawson is also famed for flying around in a Range-branded helicopter in order to visit his stores personally.
Poundland dropped its ‘where everything’s £1’ slogan in 2019 as it expanded its range of products – but still maintains it is ‘home of the £1’
He opened his first CDS Superstore – later renamed The Range – in Plymouth in 1989 and has openly likened his stores to ‘a poor man’s John Lewis’, once telling the Telegraph: ‘As each person comes in, I think: “Kerching, kerching, kerching!”‘
That hasn’t stopped it attracting well-heeled customers – The Duchess of Cambridge was seen doing last-minute Christmas shopping at the King’s Lynn branch near Norfolk in 2018.
In 2023, Dawson bought the rights to Wilko for £5million after the homeware chain collapsed, initially turning it into a web-only retailer before opening a handful of physical stores and 200 click-and-collect points across the country.
A year later he would do the same with Homebase, spending £30million on buying brand rights and 70 of its stores in a pre-pack deal. The brick-and-mortar shops were rebranded as The Range while the Homebase name has moved online.
Dawson is thought to have saved millions of pounds in tax by handing control of his businesses to his wife Sarah, who resides in Jersey and is the controlling party of parent firm Norton Group Holdings.
According to The Sunday Times Rich List, Dawson and his wife are worth a combined £2.65billion.
While buyers circle, a civil war is raging within Poundland’s walls – with upper management rounding on their Gordon Brothers paymasters after their preferred rescue deal collapsed.
Barry Williams, the company’s managing director, revealed to staff that Gordon Brothers had cut off the company’s access to cash for day-to-day operations.
In a memo to workers, he said the rejection of the Martin Property Group bid had been ‘unexpected, unwanted and wholly avoidable’.
He added: ‘As you all know, our sales are strong and our recovery is taking root. This business simply does not deserve to go into any kind of administration.’
Poundland and Gordon Brothers were contacted for comment.