[Cherie]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-44248409


he Australian owner of Homebase has sold the DIY chain for £1, ending its disastrous foray into the UK.
Wesfarmers paid £340m for the retailer two years ago, but losses and other costs will bring its total bill to about £1bn.
The chain is being bought by restructuring specialist Hilco, which rescued music chain HMV in 2013.
The 24 stores that had been converted to the Bunnings brand will revert to the Homebase name.
Richard Lim, of consultancy Retail Economics, said the Wesfarmers takeover had been an "unbelievable disaster" due to "woeful management decisions, clumsy execution and a misguided perception of the UK market".
He expected the restructuring would result in store closures and more job losses on the High Street. Homebase has about 250 stores and 11,500 workers

[arista]

Yes with so much debts the future will get worse
and some stores may have to close

[bots]

should have been 50p

[Crimson Dynamo]

over priced

[kirklancaster]

£1.00! - What an Asset-Strippers dream. I wish it was me who had bought it.

[Cherie]

Since Sainsburys sold it, it lost all its appeal, apart from the garden section, they took away all the Homeware stuff that brought people in, and turned it into I don't know what...

[kirklancaster]

Originally Posted by Cherie

Since Sainsburys sold it, it lost all its appeal, apart from the garden section, they took away all the Homeware stuff that brought people in, and turned it into I don't know what...

I never used Homebase much but I did use to enjoy shopping at Sainsburys for groceries years ago.

[Northern Monkey]

Hope my local one doesn’t close.I’m always in there.

[arista]

Originally Posted by Northern Monkey

Hope my local one doesn’t close.I’m always in there.

If they have bigger amount of customers
should be saved.

[smudgie]

Our local one shut years ago.
We travel to Whitby to buy there now.
Massive 5 ltr tins of paint by the dozen when it’s on offer.
Don’t think the stores are big enough to compete with the bigger ones like B&Q.

[arista]

[On Thursday , Hilco (who also own HMV) had edged ahead of rivals after convincing management about its plan for Homebase, which is losing about £20m a month.]

[It has been a disastrous foray into the UK market for Wesfarmers, which was hoping to use the purchase of Homebase to take on Britain's biggest DIY chain B&Q.
Wesfarmers was forced to write off £500m after ditching some of Homebase's popular products, taking its total losses on the acquisition to about £1bn.]

[The sale to Hilco will be painful for an unknown number of Homebase's creditors and 11,500 workers, with store closures, an insolvency process called a company voluntary arrangement and disposals all among the potential options to be pursued.]

https://news.sky.com/story/homebase-...l-sum-11384664


Bad road all the way down a Hill
now Hilco will keep some Stores that are doing well.
but the rest may have to go.