Bargain Booze could go bust unless it can raise £125million, its owners have made clear.

Conviviality, which owns the company, announced in a stock exchange announcement that it was holding meetings with investors to raise £125m.

It hopes that will help it pay a £30m tax bill due at the end of the month, fund overdue payments to creditors and repay a £30m loan.

Thousands of jobs could be put at risk as the owner of Bargain Booze heads for administration, according to reports.

PricewaterhouseCoopers are expected to be appointed administrators on Thursday, a source told Sky News.

A Bargain Booze store
A Bargain Booze store

The news comes days after the firm confirmed that top boss Diana Hunter had left, and that it hoped to raised £125million from investors.

A number of the off-licence's suppliers are believed to have left the company, which also supplies booze to pubs, making it almost impossible for bosses to raise the funds needed.

Shares in the company, which also owns Wine Rack and the wholesaler Matthew Clark, were suspended at 101p last week after two profit warnings in the space of a week wiped more than 60% off its stock market value.

The company employs 2,600 people and supplies more than 700 off licences, and 23,000 pubs and restaurants.

If the company does file for administration, it will be the latest in a string of retailers who have struggled to keep their finances afloat.

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Only in December it was reported Bargain Booze owner Conviviality had saved 1,100 jobs after buying more than 100 convenience stores in a £25 million deal following the collapse of wholesaler Palmer & Harvey (P&H).

The alcohol wholesaler and distributor has secured a takeover of Central Convenience, which includes franchise rights, 127 convenience stores, 20 linked to petrol stations and 47 including Post Offices, and 18 franchisee-operated stores.

The group underpinned the deal by raising £30 million on the London Stock Exchange by placing 8,000,000 new ordinary shares at 375p each.