Poundland directors meeting tonight to decide company's future, Sky News told

The directors of Poundland are holding a board meeting this evening to decide the company's future, Sky News has been told.

Managing director Barry Williams earlier said there were "no guarantees" jobs would be saved.

Speaking after a private meeting with MPs' business and trade committee, he said: "The message to staff was thank you.

"Our colleagues have done an amazing job getting the business to where it is."

Asked if Poundland would enter administration tomorrow, he added: "We're going to go and have a board meeting now to have those conversations."

The deadline to appoint administrators runs out at midnight, with 600 stores and 10,500 jobs at stake, plus thousands more in the supply chain.

Mr Williams, who met MPs alongside the UK boss of the company's US owner Gordon Brothers, said they were able to "share some more detail - we left them [the committee] with some facts".

"Sean and I have now got to go and hold a board meeting and to make some decisions based upon our next steps," he said.

But Liam Byrne, who chairs the committee, told Sky's News it was "one of the most extraordinary evidence sessions I have ever seen".

He accused Gordon Brothers of "behaving almost like a Wolf of Wall Street, rampaging the British high street".

Speaking to our business and economics correspondent Paul Kelso, Mr Byrne said MPs were "more concerned now than at the beginning of the hearing".

Poundland's directors could seek a 10-day extension on appointing administrators if they're confident it would not compromise the interests of its creditors.

If they aren't confident of that, they would have no choice but to proceed with the appointment of administrators.

Sky's City editor Mark Kleinman says Gordon Brothers yesterday released about £10m to pay Poundland's suppliers, but that industry sources caution it still doesn't mean the firm will be saved.

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(c) Sky News 2026: Poundland directors meeting tonight to decide company's future, Sky News told