The former owner of Poundland is lining up advisers to supervise its transition to new shareholders through a court-sanctioned process that will involve store closures and job cuts at the discount retailer.

Sky News has learnt that Pepco Group, which is listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange, is drafting in FRP Advisory weeks after it struck a deal to sell Poundland to Gordon Brothers.

Industry sources said FRP had been asked by Pepco to act as an observer, with the High Court scheduled to sanction a restructuring plan in the last week of August.

Under the proposed deal, 68 Poundland shops would close in the short term, along with two distribution centres.

More shops are expected to be shut under Gordon Brothers over time, resulting in hundreds of job losses.

Pepco is said to be particularly focused on IT systems which Poundland uses in common with Pepco’s operations in Poland.

Barry Williams, managing director of Poundland, said at the time of the deal’s announcement: “It’s no secret that we have much work to do to get Poundland back on track.

“While Poundland remains a strong brand, serving 20 million-plus shoppers each year, our performance for a significant period has fallen short of our high standards and action is needed to enable the business to return to growth.

“It’s sincerely regrettable that this plan includes the closure of stores and distribution centres, but it’s necessary if we’re to achieve our goal of securing the future of thousands of jobs and hundreds of stores.

Prior to the deal’s announcement, Poundland employed roughly 16,000 people across an estate of over 800 shops in the UK and Ireland.

Tax hikes announced by Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, in last autumn’s Budget have increased the financial pressure on high street retailers.

In recent months, chains including WH Smith, Lakeland and The Original Factory Shop have changed hands amid challenging circumstances.

In June, Sky News revealed that River Island, the family-owned clothing retailer, was also working with advisers on a rescue plan aimed at averting its collapse.

Pepco and Poundland declined to comment.

TalkTalk, the telecoms and broadband group, has secured a £100m capital injection from one of its existing backers in a deal that will relieve the growing financial pressure on the company.

Sky News has learnt that Ares Management has agreed to provide the new funding in two tranches, with the first £60m said to be imminent.

A deal could be announced as soon as Friday afternoon, according to banking sources.

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The funding agreement comes amid discussions between TalkTalk and its bondholders about a potential break-up of the company, which would involve the sale of its consumer arm and PXC, its wholesale and network division.

Those disposals are now not expected to be launched in the short term.

One person close to the situation said that in addition to Ares’s £100m commitment, TalkTalk had raised £50m from two disposals in March and June, comprising the sale of non-core customers to Utility Warehouse.

There was also an in-principle agreement to defer cash interest payments and to capitalise those, which would be worth approximately £60m.

TalkTalk has been grappling with a strained balance sheet for some time, and recently drafted in advisers from Alvarez & Marsal, the professional services firm, to assist its finance function.

The group has more than 3m broadband customers, making it one of the largest players in the UK market.

It completed a £1.2bn refinancing late last year, but has been under pressure from bondholders to raise additional capital.

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Last month, the Financial Times reported that BT’s broadband infrastructure arm, Openreach, could block TalkTalk from adding new customers to its network in an escalating dispute over payments owed to BT Group.

TalkTalk, which was taken private in 2021, and Ares both declined to comment.

The head of the UK’s biggest mortgage lender has said he expects two more interest rate cuts this year, making borrowing cheaper.

Chief executive of Lloyds Banking Group Charlie Nunn told Sky News he expected the Bank of England to make the cuts two more times before 2026, likely bringing the base interest rate to 3.75%.

Two cuts are currently anticipated by investors, the first of which is due to be a 0.25 percentage point reduction next month.

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The banking group owns Halifax and Bank of Scotland, making it the biggest provider of mortgages.

Mr Nunn also forecast house price growth of between 2 and 3%.

“We helped 34,000 first-time buyers in the first half [of the year] alone, 64,000 last year. And of course, it was driven by the stamp duty changes in Q1 [the first three months of the year]. So Q2 [the second three months] was a bit slower, but we continue to see real strength in customers wanting to buy homes and take mortgages. So we think that will continue,” he said.

It comes as the bank reported higher profits than City of London analysts had expected.

Half-yearly profit at the lender reached £3.5bn as people borrowed and deposited more.

The bank has benefited from high interest rates, set at 4.25% by the Bank of England to control inflation, which have made borrowing more expensive for households and businesses.

Over the last six months, the difference between what Lloyds earns on loans and what it pays out rose.

Mr Nunn told Sky News the profits were due to increased market share in mortgages and small business lending, as well as productivity improvements.

Despite this, Mr Nunn warned the chancellor against raising taxes on financial services, saying it was one of the highest taxed in the world.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves is expected to announce tax rises in the autumn as her vow to bring down debt has come under pressure due to the rising cost of borrowing and government spending U-turns.