Thousands of workers at the Homebase DIY chain face uncertainty over their future amid reports that the retailer is close to appointing administrators, with homeware specialist The Range poised to snap up some of its stores.
Homebase is expected to appoint Teneo to handle an insolvency process for its UK arm, which has about 130 stores.
The Range is reportedly planning to buy up to 75 Homebase stores including its Irish branches in a pre-pack sale, saving close to 1,500 jobs, as first reported by Sky News.
However, the future of some further 1,700 staff is uncertain with its remaining shops at risk of closure.
The deal with The Range is expected to be announced later on Wednesday and Teneo is expected to run a sales process for the remaining stores. Employees may be transferred to any new owner – if their store remains open.
Homebase has been under pressure to win shoppers for some time, and its parent group HHGL, made a loss of £85m in the year to January 2023, from an annual profit of nearly £56m a year earlier, after an 11% drop in sales.
Homebase’s current owner, the turnaround specialist Hilco, reportedly put the chain back on the market this spring, six years after it bought it for £1 from the Australian retail group Wesfarmers in 2018.
The Homebase chain has had a chequered history since it was created by Sainsbury’s in 1979 and sold off by the supermarket in 2006.
Sainsbury’s acquired 10 Homebase stores in August for £130m to convert them into large supermarkets, shrinking the chain to slightly more than 130 outlets, almost half the 250 it had when Hilco bought it.
Wesfarmers owned the group for only two years, after what is viewed by some as one of the most disastrous UK retail takeovers.
The Range, which operates 210 stores in the UK and Ireland, bought the Wilko brand and intellectual property rights last year, when administrators sold off parts of the 93-year-old retailer, but did not buy any of its stores.
It has since opened six of what it calls “concept stores” in locations including Poole, Exeter, St Albans and Rotherham as part of its return to the high street.
The Range and Homebase have been contacted for comment.