Sainsbury’s attempt to further expand into non-food retailing has suffered a setback, after its £1-billion bid to buy the Home Retail Group, which controls Homebase and Argos, was rejected, TheGuardian.com reports.
The supermarket chain, which may be considering a bigger offer, says that bringing together groceries with homewares, electricals and furniture would “create a food and non-food retailer of choice”.
Its connections to Argos and Homebase are longstanding. It owned the latter until it sold it to what is now the Home Retail Group in 2000, and there are Argos stores in some Sainsbury’s supermarkets across the UK.
A takeover, Sainsbury’s has said, “is an attractive proposition for the customers and shareholders of both companies, establishing a platform for long-term value creation.
“The combination is an opportunity to bring together two of the UK’s leading retail businesses, with complementary product offers focused on delivering quality products and services at fair prices, through an integrated, multichannel proposition.”
Home Retail Group’s shares rose in value by nearly 30 per cent following the announcement of the bid.
© 2016 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Peter Donnelly. To subscribe to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine, click here.
