Sir Geoff Mulcahy plots Woolworths comeback

Mulcahy, who created Kingfisher out of the Paternoster takeover of Woolworths in 1982, is convinced the famous fascia still has a place on the high street.

He told The Sun newspaper: “You have 25,000 staff at Woolworths and there must be a way of trying to save this business.

“It’s late in the day but there’s still a possibility. We’re considering a number of options.”

Mulcahy is understood to have a management team waiting in the wings that would run the store group and pay off its debts of£380 million.

However, industry sources said Mulcahy’s chances of pulling off a deal were slim.

It is understood that Woolworths’ administrators, Deloitte, have already arranged to sell 350 of Woolworths’ 800 shops to other retailers.