Collapsed retailer Wilko owes unsecured creditors in Suffolk almost £3.5million – with the majority owed to an Ipswich energy supplier.
Drax Energy Solutions, based on the Ransomes industrial estate, is owed a sum of £2,840,649, according to a statement of affairs document visible on Companies House.
The East of England Co-op, based at Wherstead Park near Ipswich, is owed £408,221, while companies in Hadleigh and Leiston are both owed more than £50,000.
The total owed to 11 firms based in Suffolk is £3,460,825, while the sum owed to all companies is in excess of £157m.
Wilko had stores in Ipswich, Bury St Edmunds, Lowestoft and Mildenhall, but they have closed over the last few weeks after the chain fell into administration – leaving hundreds of people without work.
Staff at the Ipswich branch also staged a protest against Lisa Wilkinson, the granddaughter of Wilko founder James Kempsey Wilkinson, as the shop closed after her family took £77m in dividends from the company over the last 10 years.
The workers wore red polo shirts with a hidden motif aimed at Ms Wilkinson.
When companies are put into liquidation, their unsecured creditors fall at the bottom of the chain when administrators sell off their assets.
Drax Energy Solutions declined to comment on the sum owed, while the East of England Co-op was approached for a statement.
Duncan Perry, head of finance at Challs International in Hadleigh, a firm which makes household cleaning products, said his firm had been a long-term supplier of Wilko.
He said Challs accepted there was a degree of uncertainty surrounding the retailer earlier this year due to its perilous financial position, but decided to make a "calculated risk".
Mr Perry said: "We had been supplying Wilko at various points in their time, including up to the last few months. It is genuinely sad to see such a long-standing business go.
"We were all aware of the difficulties facing Wilko a long time before they closed stores. We made the decision to continue trading with them as they had been a long-term customer.
"The sales were for a few months before they ceased trading. It was a calculated risk based on our long-term relationship. But every sale on credit has its risks.
"I'd be extraordinarily surprised if we got all of this money. A couple of pence in the pound seems to be the norm these days, but like I say, you take a calculated risk."
PricewaterhouseCoopers, which was appointed as administrator for Wilko, declined to comment on the sum owed to creditors.
- Drax Energy Solutions Ltd, Ipswich – £2,840,649
- East of England Co-op Society, Ipswich – £408,221
- Challs International Ltd, Hadleigh – £58,765
- Dayes Ltd, Leiston – £55,831
- Atalian Servest Ltd, Bury St Edmunds – £31,691
- Churchmanor Ltd, Ipswich – £24,000
- Ardencrest Ltd, Ipswich – £15,000
- Robinson Young Ltd, Ipswich – £12,342
- Icewatch Ltd, Saxmundham – £11,842
- Supreme Petfoods Ltd, Hadleigh – £1,250
- Shop Safe Ltd, Bury St Edmunds – £1,234
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