A SHOEBURY business specialising in cleaning products is owed more than £250,000 by collapsed retailer Wilko, it has been revealed.

A statement of affairs for Wilko submitted to Companies House shows that EGL Homecare, based in Campfield Road, is owed 270,087 by the now defunct retail chain.

EGL Homecare, which was founded in 1979, is a European market leader in the category of scourers, cleaning cloths and sponges.

Other firms are in a similar position, with Billericay-based fashion accessories manufacture, Totes ISOTONER UK owed £115,458 in debts by Wilko.

Basildon-based PMS international Group is owed £51,376 and Southend based Opal BPM is owed £35,760.

Southend Council leader Tony Cox said: “It’s hard for any company that goes into administration as there is always a risk. They won’t have their debts paid,” adding that when stores do general homecare, collapses will impact those who make goods and other stores.

“This is why they are always going to get the unhidden disruption it causes,” Mr Cox said. “It is a domino effect on the supply chain and my heart goes out to those who have lost their jobs.”

Documents released by Wilko’s administrators reveal the retail chain, which sold homeware and household goods, owes an astonishing £157,261.588 to its creditors.

Southend Tory councillor Daniel Nelson called the situation with EGL Homecare “a worrying one,” adding that it is part of a situation where “a family company has put itself in a situation where the supplier is owed so much money.”

The smallest sum owed was to Southend-based company JPG Europe, which is owed £355. The scale of the collapse has left Wilko in debt to companies from Grays to Rayleigh too, with Rayleigh-based Thames Technology Ltd owed £6,901.

Southend’s Wilko closed for the last time on October 4, ending 28 years loyal service to the community.

The administrator PwC confirmed at the end of September that all 111 Wilko stores across the nation would be closing.