buyer

Retail chain Poundland is in talks with potential buyers as it seeks a rescue deal, it has confirmed.

Executives are working with an Irish property development group on a management buyout, as first reported by Sky News, external.

But a union representing shopworkers warned that the retailer could fall into administration if that deal falls through, putting thousands of jobs at risk.

This outcome would be “a disaster for our members”, the Usdaw union said.

Poundland has about 600 stores in the UK and Ireland, and 12,000 employees.

The chain has been struggling for a number of years due to pressures including rising costs and competition.

However, it expects sales to have grown more than 3% in 2026 compared with the previous year, which managing director Barry Williams said earlier this month was evidence that its recovery plan “is working”.

The retailer was sold for £1 last summer by previous owner Pepco to US investment firm Gordon Brothers.

The current owners are in the process of seeking buyers, with the Poundland management attempting a buyout, a spokesman said.

Mr Williams, along with the firm’s leadership team and Andy Bond, a former chairman of Pepco, have been working with Irish real estate firm Martin Property Group on a management buyout.

Martin Property Group is the management team’s “preferred partner”, the spokesman said, but the team will “work with whoever can deliver the best result for the business, colleagues and suppliers and build on the successful recovery that’s already taking shape,” he added.

However, Bally Auluk, a national officer at Usdaw, said there are “deep concerns that the business could go into administration” should this buyout fail.

“We are aware that a management buy-out has been attempted and we are told that their offers are being turned down,” he added.

A Poundland source disputed this, however, saying the Martin Property Group is part of the sale process and remains the management team’s preferred partner.

Gov. Gavin Newsom last week signed legislation cracking down on the practice of luxury-car buyers in California registering cars out of state to avoid taxes.

Senate Bill 1406, introduced by state Sen. Jerry McNerney (D-Pleasanton), closes the so-called Montana loophole, in which tax evaders create shell companies in Montana or other states without sales tax or vehicle registration fees and use them to purchase Ferraris, Porsches and other luxury cars. The state estimate it loses millions of dollars annually because of such schemes.

The new law expands California’s definition of who is a resident under state sales tax law in an effort to weed out phony shell companies, making a company liable for state taxes when at least one member of the business is a California resident.

The law, which went into effect immediately, also authorizes the state tax agency to impose tax liability on individual members of a business.

California had already looked to enforcement efforts to investigate suspicious out-of-state car sales, which officials estimate amount to $10 million annually in lost tax revenue.

Under state law, residents were already required to pay California sales tax on vehicles unless they are first used out of state and stay out of state for at least 12 months. Dealers are required to maintain records showing sales of vehicles so that authorities can ensure vehicles sold to buyers in another state are actually delivered there.

Earlier this year, the state’s Department of Justice charged 14 people — including auto dealers and customers purchasing cars — with concealing the purchase of more than $20 million worth of high-end vehicles including Ferraris, Porsches and Lamborghinis, and evading upward of $1.8 million in state taxes.

Text messages included in the criminal complaint showed buyers seeking to conceal their purchases. One Lamborghini buyer boasted about fees avoided: “70k saved — I can’t believe Montana registration lasts for 5 years — that’s crazy. Stupid California. Paid 3k to own a 600k car for 5 years — lol in Cali that’s like 75k for 5 years. Hella dumb.”

The new law further develops criteria to help show an LLC as a shell company involved in a potential tax evasion scheme.

If the LLC lacks a specific business activity or purpose, fails to maintain a physical location outside California, fails to employ people, or fails to file federal tax returns in another state, it could now be considered as evidence of such a scheme.