A party supplies retailer and distributor is teetering on the brink of administration after being hit by a downturn in consumer spending.
Sky News understands that Wonder Group, which was previously known as Amscan, was on Monday preparing to file a notice of intention to appoint Interpath Advisory to handle an insolvency process.
Sources said the company had been affected by falling demand in international markets for party and costume products.
Wonder, which employs about 200 people in the UK, could now be broken up through the sale of a number of its assets in the coming weeks, they added.
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
Eighteen months ago it set a £500m revenue target by 2026, after acquiring the Swedish-based online retailer Party King.
The group also employs about 200 people in Europe, and has a UK base in Milton Keynes.
Among its other acquisitions in recent years was Ginger Ray, which it bought in 2021.
Read more from business:
Fuel prices ‘kept high while Britain distracted by election’
UK house prices still at ‘record high’ as market ‘steady’
Post Office campaigner given knighthood
Wonder’s management team is said to have elected to file the notice of intention to appoint administrators to buy itself temporary breathing space from creditors.
Endless, the investment firm, which backed a buyout of Wonder in 2021 from US-based Party City, declined to comment on the process or how many jobs could be put at risk.
Another UK player in the sector, Smiffys, is also on the brink of collapse after lining up PricewaterhouseCoopers as administrator last month.