Nottingham-headquartered national auction house John Pye & Sons has been appointed by the joint administrators of wilko Ltd to manage the sale of plant and machinery following its closure.
National budget homeware retailer Wilko Ltd was founded in 1930 in Leicester and comprised 400 stores across the UK. In August 2023, the retailer appointed Jane Steer, Zelf Hussain and Edward Williams of PwC as joint administrators to oversee the sale of its assets after it went into administration.
The administrators have since appointed John Pye Auctions to manage the sale of plant and machinery from wilko’s two distribution centres in Worksop – Nottinghamshire and Newport – Wales covering 1.2m sq ft and 880,000 sq ft, respectively. Comprising of pallet racking, recycling and handling equipment, all items will be sold via online auction from Newport, Wales as well as across various John Pye sites.
Everything from Godswill baling presses, waste compactors and conveyor systems to tractors, roll cages, access equipment, IT and photographic studios will be included in the lots.
Offers are also being invited for the Mecalux Pallet racking from both distribution centres, with the auctioneer already experiencing interest from high street retailers and logistics companies.
Charles Loake, associate director, joint head of John Pye Business & Property, said: “The wilko staff we have been fortunate to work with have been a true credit to the firm to the very end, supporting us with all stages of the asset removal and sale processes.
“We are always very sorry to see a long-established business facing this situation. Wilko has earned a strong reputation as a much-loved high-street retailer over the years, and we will do our best to secure the best outcomes for these assets under these challenging circumstances.
“We are also very proud that the administrators recognise us as a leading auctioneer with an extensive sales network. We have the systems and expertise to manage these assets with the highest level of efficiency through our online network. Our UK-wide footprint of over 1,000,000 sq ft of sale space and a nationwide workforce of over 700 staff ensures we can handle the largest of insolvency cases.”
The appointment is the latest in a series of high-profile retail administrations that John Pye has been brought in to manage, including MADE.com and Moore Large earlier this year.
