Breakfast briefing: Retail news on Mothercare, Tesco, Argos and more

Mothercare finance boss emerges as contender for key role at Debenhams

Mothercare’s finance director Matthew Smith has emerged as a top-runner to succeed Debenhams’ finance chief Simon Herrick, The Sunday Times reports. Smith is among several people being interviewed for a key role at the department store. Debenhams is understood to have narrowed the field down to a handful of candidates, including Smith and former New Look finance director Alastair Miller.

Tesco mulls developing some 4,000 homes in Britain

Tesco is currently working on plans to build over 4,000 homes across the UK on land it initially bought to build new supermarkets, Reuters reports.

Argos to trial same-day delivery service later in 2014

High street retailer Argos will begin a same-day delivery service in its latest move to fight back against Amazon, the Telegraph reports. The chain will start a trial later this year that will allow consumers to order a product online and have it delivered to their home or local store on the same day.

The Hut poised to sell stake in business to KKR

A consortium led by private equity group KKR will pay £100m to acquire a 20% stake in fast-growing ecommerce company The Hut in a deal that will garner the UK online retailer £500m, the Financial Times reports.

It is understood that KKR is acquiring the stake from some of the retailer’s early backers, including family and friends of The Hut’s chief executive Matthew Moulding.

Swoon Editions lands £4m to fund expansion

Online furniture retailer Swoon Editions has raised £4m from existing backers Octopus Investments and Index Ventures, The Sunday Times reports. The company will use the fresh capital secured to help fund expansions.