Hilco Capital, the new owners of Homebase, who bought the DIY chain for £1 from Australian conglomerate Wesfarmers in May, have named 42 planned store closures.
Meanwhile, results posted by Wesfarmers for 2017/18, underline the disastrous impact that buying Homebase for £375m two years ago has had on the company’s finances before they pulled the plug on the Bunnings UK and Ireland venture.
Wesfarmers posted a 58% drop in net profits to $1.2bn, after more than $1.3bn in losses and costs.
Wesfarmers said the Homebase purchase cost $1.02bn in impairments, write-offs and store closure provisions. The group spent $156m on Bunnings UK in 2017 and $141m in 2018.
Hilco have said they plan to re-store the Homebase brand to the 24 stores converted to Bunnings by this autumn. In the last 12 months, 17 branches have been closed which combined with the latest announcement, brings the total to 59 - near to the 60 that has been suggested in recent weeks.
The closures are believed to affect a further 1,500 jobs at Homebase after the massive reductions in head office staff.
Reports are now starting to emerge that Amazon Logistics may be interested in some of the Homebase sites as there is a shortage of UK warehousing space with large locations at a premium. As the sites are close to urban areas they could be a perfect fit for the Amazon Prime service.
The 42 store closures announced by Hilco are:
- Aberdeen Bridge of Don
- Aberdeen Portlethen
- Aylesbury
- Bedford St Johns
- Bradford
- Brentford
- Bristol
- Canterbury
- Cardiff Newport Road
- Croydon Purley Way
- Droitwich
- Dublin Fonthill
- Dublin Naas Road
- Dundee
- East Kilbride
- Exeter
- Gateshead
- Grantham
- Greenock
- Hawick
- Inverness
- Ipswich
- Limerick
- London Merton
- London New Southgate
- London Wimbledon
- Macclesfield
- Oxford Botley Road
- Peterborough
- Pollokshaws
- Poole Tower Park
- Robroyston
- Salisbury
- Seven Kings
- Solihull
- Southampton Hedge End
- Southend
- Stirling
- Swindon Drakes Way
- Swindon Orbital
- Warrington
- Whitby
