A NUMBER of convenience shops in the Scottish Borders could be forced to close unless the company can resolve short term funding issues.

McColl’s who trade in Scotland as RS McColl's own around 1,400 outlets throughout the UK including several shops in the Scottish Borders in Galashiels, Kelso, Hawick, Peebles, Jedburgh and St Boswells.

Earlier this week the company said that unless talks with possible lenders are successful, the group would "increasingly likely" be forced into administration.

Today they confirmed in a lunchtime announcement to the London Stock Exchange that it was to appoint PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) as administrator.

McColl's said in a statement "In order to protect creditors, preserve the future of the business and to protect the interests of employees, the board was regrettably therefore left with no choice other than to place the company in administration, appointing PriceWaterhouseCoopers as administrators, in the expectation that they intend to implement a sale of the business to a third-party purchaser as soon as possible."

The immediate future of the outlets in the Borders is not known at this time.