B&M, Poundland rumoured to snap up 150 Wilko stores

Discount retail chains Poundland and London-listed B&M European Retail are reportedly in talks to snap up 150 stores from struggling rival Wilko, which fell into administration earlier this month.

According to Sky News, Pepco, the Poland-based owner of Poundland, is in discussions to buy around 100 of the 400 Wilko stores.

B&M, meanwhile, is looking to take on 40 to 50, according to an unnamed insider, Sky reports.

The reports come a day after the GMB Union confirmed that the sale for the "significant part" of the business had fallen through. "This means that there is no longer any prospect that the majority of the business will be saved," the union said in a statement on Wednesday.

An announcement by the administrators PwC is expected at some point on Thursday, but it is likely that the remaining Wilko stores will be closed down for good.

The purchases, if they go ahead, will add 6% and 8% to the sizes of the UK store portfolios of B&M and Pepco, respectively, according to analysts at Numis.

"Wilkinson’s most recently revenue per store was c.£3m, c.half that at B&M and c.50% more than that at Poundland, given the nature of the store estate, but we assume each entity will be cherry-picking store locations and sizes that most closely match their own estate, allowing to achieve similar sales densities to those in the existing estate," Numis said in a research note.