COLLAPSED discount chain Wilko reportedly paid £77million to owners and former shareholders before going bust and putting 12,000 jobs at risk.
The stricken firm, which went into administration last week, is said to have been handing out multi-million-pound dividends to key figures.
The biggest pay-out over the past decade was a £63million windfall in 2015 when one side of the family which had founded the company sold their shares to the other, the Mail On Sunday says.
Wilko stores, a familar sight on high streets across Britain, were controlled by descendants of founder James Kemley Wilkinson.
New analysis of the 93-year-old business's accounts outlines how people were paid in the years ahead of it going into administration.
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Share dividends of £3million were handed out last year despite Wilko's annual losses of £39million, reports suggest.
This is said to have followed pay-outs of £3.2million in 2018 at a time the firm slumped to a £65million loss.
Trade unions tonight branded the dividend pay-outs "a disgrace".
The GMB's Nadine Houghton said: "The business could have thrived under strong market conditions for bargain retailers - but with owners prioritising their own dividends, it has been left to go under."
Wilko's 400 nationwide stores continue to trade for now, amid talks with potential buyers, but administrators PwC have been called in.
It has now stopped processing all online deliveries and shoppers are limited to click and collect orders instead.
A spokesperson for AHWL, the management firm for remaining family owners after the split, said none had personally received any dividends since AHWL were formed 2017.
They owned 99.7 per cent of Wilko until it went into administration.
He told the Mail On Sunday: "The dividends received have been invested in property and businesses in the UK."
He said this included "over 20 high-risk investments into young businesses as the family seek to help entrepreneurs have the success from business that they had over 90 years".
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Wilko's collapse came after the company retailer failed to secure a rescue deal - while The Sun has revealed Poundstretcher wouldn't be one of the names considering stepping in.
A full list has been provided of the 400 Wilko stores at risk of closure.
Bosses were said to be exploring the sale of a controlling stake in the company just last month.
Numerous high street brands have collapsed into administration in the last 12 months.
Wilko's fall is the biggest British retail collapse since McColl's plunged into administration in May last year.
But the cornershop chain was saved from closure after Morrisons swooped in to protect 16,000 jobs.
Paperchase collapsed into administration at the end of January this year and all 106 stores have since closed for good.
However, the Paperchase brand name and intellectual property were purchased by Tesco.
Scottish clothing brand M&Co and wellies retailer Joules were among familiar brands going bust last year.
Like Paperchase, the M&Co brand name was purchased by Yours Clothing - but all stores shut.
However, Yours Clothing has plans to open 50 new M&Co branded stores over the next two years.
Retailers aren't the only ones affected, with burger chain Byron Burger also falling into administration and closing nine restaurants.
