42 Homebase stores to face the axe

DIY retailer Homebase has announced the closure of 42 stores, resulting in around 1,500 redundancies.

The DIY chain has already closed 17 stores after it was bought out by restructuring experts Hilco for £1 in May, and is said to be filing for a CVA. Insolvency advisors Alvarez & Marsal are expected to handle CVA proceedings, the company previously worked with Toys R Us earlier in the year.

The company was purchased by Hilco after previous owner Wesfarmers, which originally bought the business for £340m, ditched its “disastrous” plan to convert the Homebase stores into UK branches of Bunnings.

As many as 300 roles at Homebase’s head office in Milton Keynes and its horticultural buying office in Swindon have been already been axed. Since Hilco’s takeover a number of stores baring the Bunnings name have been converted back to Homebase.

Homebase CEO Damian McGloughlin said: “We need to continue to take decisive action to address the underperformance of the business and deal with the burden of our cost base, as well as to protect thousands of jobs.”