One half of the family behind value chain Wilko collected £63m from selling its stake in the retailer last year, new documents have revealed.
Karin Swann and her side of the family sold their 50% stake to the other side of the Wilkinson family led by Lisa Wilkinson, who is the sole chairman, it emerged last August.
A new filing with Companies House shows that Swann bagged £63m from the divestment. The accounts show the stake sale was carried out through a demerger of a company called Castlegate PropCo into Swann’s side of the family. Castlegate retained £39.5m in cash and £23.5m worth of freehold property.
Wilko last month reported a 1.2% slip in sales to £1.4bn in the year to the end of January 2015. Pre-tax profits fell 80% to £5.5m, with the group blaming price cuts by grocers and the impact of value specialists such as Aldi and Lidl.
Last October, the retailer reported that it was consulting with 170 head office staff over a restructure.
Prior to its latest accounts, Wilko had suffered two years of sales declines. The retailer has faced increasingly tough competition in recent years as rivals including Poundland and B&M Bargains expand aggressively.
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