Homebase could soon be sold since its owner has held talks with a number of potential buyers.
Owner Hilco Capital has reportedly held discussions about the future of Homebase with a number of interested parties, including The Range and B&M European Value Retail, according to The Times.
Sources said that Homebase’s brand name, intellectual property and 170-strong store estate across the UK and Ireland could be “broken up and sold off under new owners”.
“Hilco will have extracted the value it wants from Homebase and is now looking to exit,” one anonymous source reportedly said.
However, Homebase told Retail Week that there are no active current conversations regarding a sale.
The turnaround specialist bought Homebase for £1 in 2018 from Australian owner Wesfarmers, which had paid £340m for the business only 18 months before.
That same year, Hilco launched a company voluntary arrangement, slashing rents and closing hundreds of stores. The retailer ended its CVA 18 months early after renegotiating most of its leases and improving profitability.
Hilco last put Homebase up for sale in 2020, when it looked to capitalise on the then pandemic boom in home improvement.
CDS Superstores International, the owner of The Range and Wilko, has looked at buying certain parts of Homebase, although it is “not in active conversations currently”.
In the year to December 2021, the last in which Homebase has available financial accounts, the retailer made an operating profit before exceptional items of £63.7m on sales of £788.2m.
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