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 News it was "one of the most extraordinary evidence sessions I have ever seen" and 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".

He said the US firm "refused to say they would prioritise saving jobs over and above maximising their own financial returns".

Mr Byrne also said there was "clear evidence" Gordon Brothers had taken up to £20m out of Poundland "at a time when it was on a knife edge".

He told Sky News he wants the midnight deadline extended and for Gordon Brothers to give Poundland the "access they need to their own bank accounts".

Poundland's directors have the option of seeking a 10-day extension 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 go ahead with the appointment of administrators.

Sky's City editor Mark Kleinman reported yesterday that Gordon Brothers had released about £10m to pay Poundland's suppliers but that sources cautioned it didn't mean the firm would be saved.

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