Home Retail, owner of Argos and Homebase, preceded next Wednesday’s first-half figures with the acquisition of 27 stores from Focus DIY for £40 million.

The shops will adopt the Homebase fascia by the peak spring trading period, at a cost of about£30 million.

Home Retail’s share price has been down since the summer, partly on the back of fears about retail prospects more generally.

Seymour Pierce welcomed the Focus transaction, but maintained its underperform advice. The broker said: “Concerns over the outlook for big-ticket leave us unable to get too enthused about the trade-off of increased exposure to the category at the expense of leverage.”

Pali International had similar doubts, but expected strong profit growth of about 30 per cent next week.

Kaupthing said that a more active housing market from next April might be good news for Home Retail and its peers.

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