UNWINS, one of Britain’s biggest off-licence chains, appeared to be on the brink of collapse last night after its directors put the company on the path to administration. An intention to appoint Kroll as administrator was filed in the High Court on Monday. This gives Unwins until next Tuesday to find a buyer or refinance.

The chain would be the latest in a string of retailers forced to call in the administrators this year in the face of a slowdown in consumer spending and rising costs.

Forminster, the AIM-listed company that holds the UK franchise for Kookaï, the fashion retailer, is also poised to call in administrators if talks with Vivarte, the French owner of the brand, collapse. Vivarte has told Forminster that its franchise “is not appropriate to be renewed” when it expires on December 31.

The troubles at Unwins, which has cut jobs and suffered stock shortages in recent months, come nine months after the chain was bought by DM Private Equity for £32 million.The private equity company completed a sale and leaseback of Unwins’ freehold assets after the acquisition, enabling it to repay £29 million of the £34 million borrowed from HBOS to fund the acquisition.

However, the company’s borrowings are understood to have risen above £10 million. Its main creditors are suppliers of beer, wine and spirits, including Diageo and InBev, and cigarettes and confectionery distributors.

The company that has been installing a new till system in Unwins’ 380 stores in southern England is also owed money.

Under DM Private Equity, 55 head office staff and 135 shop managers and deputy managers have been made redundant while at least 50 shops have been closed or put up for sale. In September Phillip Cook, chairman of Unwins and DM Private Equity, admitted that the business had been “in a more perilous state than we realised at acquisition”. However, he expressed confidence he could resolve its problems, saying that it had just become profitable “for the first time in five years”.

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