Reprieve for Poundworld as Irish investors step in

A Dublin retail family which opened the first Poundworld in Ireland has confirmed that Deloitte has accepted its offer to acquire the remaining stores.

Terms of the deal have not been revealed.

All remaining Poundworld stores will close today, as planned by Deloitte, but the Henderson family will be able to re-open some stores once the deal has been completed.

The Henderson family opened the first Republic of Ireland branch of Poundworld and sold the then-named Euroworld in 2007. They have created RVP Holdings Ltd in order to operate the business.

David Henderson - son of Ray Henderson, the original owner - negotiated with Deloitte over the deal.

He said: “We are delighted to have agreed the purchase of Poundworld and we now look forward to bringing the company back to profit and provide current and new customers with an unrivalled product offering at low prices,” 

In 2015, Poundworld UK was bought for £150m, but was put up for sale in May after several months of uncertainty.

It was put into administration in June, putting as many as 5,100 jobs and 350 stores at risk.

In late July, it was announced that all stores were to close, after Deloitte rejected several bids for the business, including one from the original founder, Chris Edwards, to buy 180 stores. 

The company turned over nearly £500m in 2017.

At the time of writing it is unclear if the 1,000 staff members who are still thought to be working for the 80 remaining stores will be re-employed once the deal is completed.

Source : Insight DIY 

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