The Range and Wilko owner, CDS Superstores, has acquired the Homebase brand name, intellectual property, and up to 70 UK stores, as the DIY retailer plunged into administration.
Gavin Park, Gavin Maher and Adele Macleod from the financial advisory firm Teneo were appointed as joint administrators of Homebase’s owners, HHGL Limited and Hampden Group Limited.
The brand will continue to trade online, and the stores acquired by CDS will continue to trade as Homebase over the coming months but will re-open as The Range stores with a “much broader choice across garden, showroom and DIY categories”.
CDS Superstores group CEO Alex Simpkin said: “We plan to continue to invest in the Homebase brand, with many initiatives in the pipeline.”
Homebase chief executive Damian McGloughlin said the chain had struggled during the cost-of-living crisis, and this had been exacerbated by global supply chain problems and unseasonable weather.
“It has been an incredibly challenging three years for the home and garden improvement market,” he said. “Against this backdrop, we have taken many and wide-ranging actions to improve trading performance, including restructuring the business and seeking fresh investment. These efforts have not been successful.”
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The CDS deal will save up to 1,600 jobs. However, the future remains uncertain for the around 2,000 workers at the DIY retailer’s other 49 stores, although the administrators hope to sell additional stores.
There will not be any immediate redundancies and employees’ wage and benefits will be paid while they remain in work, administrators confirmed.
Simpkin said The Range and Wilko would prioritise interviews for any vacant positions within its existing stores for workers impacted.
It emerged this morning that Homebase had lined up Teneo to handle a pre-pack sale its stores amid hopes that a significant number of the company’s remaining jobs can be salvaged.
CDS’s acquisition follows it snapping up Wilko just over a year ago. It has since launched six Wilko stores with its seventh set to open in Uxbridge in west London week.
Simpkin added: “We’re now in a position to roll out a significant number of Wilko format stores, along with our existing The Range store opening programme, with intentions to more than double the store estate size over the next four to five years. Acquiring the Homebase brand enables CDS to access new customers and reach new communities.”
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