High street discount chain 99p Stores has been put into administration by its owner Poundland, with 60 stores across the country closing down.

The group was bought by Poundland back in 2015 for £55m, with bosses at Poundland admitting it had “difficulties digesting” the portfolio of stores following the purchase. Around 250 of the stores transferred to Poundland leases, with the remaining 60 staying on the 99p Stores leases under a subsidiary company. It is these stores which are now closing.

Alix Partners has been appointed as adminstrator. A statement from Poundland says: “"We can confirm that the separate 99p Stores company has entered administration.

"The administrator is Alix Partners and they will be responsible for communication regarding the company and its liabilities.

As we've always said, it's no secret the previous management of Poundland had difficulties digesting its 99p stores acquisition.

"However, we've largely completed the store closure programme that addressed the remaining overlaps from that 99p acquisition - importantly, with very limited impact on jobs because we have stores located near to those we're closing.

"The administration has no impact on Poundland itself which, of course, is a robust, thriving business serving over seven million shoppers a week."

Poundland was recently taken over by South African retailer Steinhoff for £597m. Steinhoff made waves in the home improvement industry last year when it entered a bidding war with Sainsbury's to buy out Home Retail Group's Argos, ultimately backing out at the eleventh hour.