National DIY retailer Homebase, which offers its own kitchen and bathroom ranges, is reportedly about to enter administration.
According to Sky News, the business has already appointed insolvency experts Teneo to help seek a buyer for the company.
It is being reported that Chris Dawson, owner of The Range, is said to be finalising a pre-package deal to acquire the brand’s website and as many as 70 Homebase stores in a deal worth around £30m.
If the deal goes ahead, it would mean nearly 1,600 Homebase jobs would be saved, although around 1,700 roles could still be in danger if a buyer is not found for the remaining stores, of which there are approximately 50.
In recent months, 14 of Homebase’s stores were also sold to supermarket chain Sainsbury’s.
According to The Telegraph, talks are also underway to sell an additional 10 Homebase retail locations to other retail giants, rumoured to include the likes of Wickes and Topps Tiles.
In August, Topps Tiles also acquired 30 CTD Tiles stores, after the retailer fell into administration.
Homebase is currently owned by Hilco, a retail investor which notably saved HMV from folding into administration.
Homebase has struggled financially in recent years, and is said to have recorded almost £21m of losses in 2023.
The home renovation retailer has been subject to a string of ownership deals in recent years. Hilco Capital first looked for a Homebase buyer in 2020, after acquiring the company from Australian retail group Wesfarmers in May 2018 for just £1. Wesfarmers bought the chain from Home Retail Group for £340 million in 2016,
The Telegraph reports that in August of this year, Homebase’s MD Damian McGloughlin, contacted suppliers to inform them that the business was falling behind in the business leaders’ expectations, saying that the company would begin an “active sale process” to seek investment.
In August 2023, The Range stepped in to buy failing high street retailer Wilko. Although it had entered administration and closed 400 of its stores, Wilko returned as an ecommerce retailer in October 2023, with physical stores beginning to open shortly after.
Following The Range’s rescue of Wilko, the retailer also announced it had created its first-ever kitchen range, marking the brand’s first steps into the KBB market.
The Range owner Chris Dawson – who is affectionately nicknamed “the Del Boy Billionaire” due to his Rolls-Royce with a license plate reading “DE11 BOY” – opened the first Range store in 1989.
