Woolworths attracts buyer interest

Deloitte, whose appointment has been confirmed, said it had received interest from "a number of parties" for both the retail arm and the firm's E.UK wholesaling operation in the past 24 hours.

The collapse of Woolworths has thrown uncertainty over the future of the retailer's 30,000 staff.

But Deloitte's reorganisation services partner Dan Butters said: "We are working hard to ensure that any sale of the business, in whole or part, will preserve jobs."

Woolworths' 813 stores account for the lion's share of the group's staff, with around 25,000 employees. But Deloitte said the 99-year-old retailer will be kept open for business.

"Stores will remain open past Christmas and employees in stores will be paid," reorganisation services partner Neville Kahn said. "Woolworths has suffered a number of cash flow problems. Strenuous efforts over recent weeks to keep these companies going have unfortunately failed," he added.

Hilco, the restructuring specialist which failed in its bid to buy Woolworths' stores for £1 and assume a major share of its £385 million borrowing facility, has been appointed by Deloitte as an agent to help manage the retail arm.

But the collapse also sparked fears of a price war on an already-beleaguered high street - with administrators potentially slashing prices to generate cash for creditors and offload unsold stock.

Meanwhile, the owner of Currys and PC World continued a grim week for the high street's biggest names after plunging almost £30 million into the red.

DSG International posted underlying losses of £29.8 million in the 24 weeks to October 18 - compared with a £52.4 million profit the previous year. The firm warned of a "tough and volatile" retail climate as like-for-like sales across the group fell 7% over the period.