Today in retail: Bunnings rebrand bites owner's profits

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Wesfarmers’ ongoing rebrand of Homebase stores has taken a chunk of the retail group’s profits in its maiden half-year in the UK.

The Australian DIY giant, which acquired Homebase a year ago, has posted a loss of £28m in its UK arm in the six months to December 31.

The retail group has not been shy about implementing a raft of changes since the acquisition and subsequent, ongoing rebrand of the business – from axing zero-hour contracts to slashing prices as part of Bunnings ‘Always Low Prices’ guarantee.

These bold moves have eaten into Wesfarmers undoubtedly deep pockets – however, there doesn’t seem to be an end is sight as UK and Ireland boss PJ Davis outlined further ambitions to reshape Homebase’s store portfolio.

The DIY boss spoke candidly to Retail Week about the possibility of Homebase store closures in the coming months as Bunnings evaluates its existing UK retail estate.

Exactly what the future looks like for Bunnings in the UK remains to be seen – but with Wesfarmers at the helm, it certainly won’t be boring.

Bunnings isn’t the only retail rebrand on the horizon as Games Workshop kickstarted the transformation of its UK store estate to Warhammer.

Elsewhere, flash sale website Secretsales was snapped up by Wowcher owner Excalibur group for an undisclosed sum.

Quote of the day

“As we’ve always said, we’ll see a combination of new openings and replacement stores and obviously when we’re replacing stores we’ll close old ones. The network development plans are dynamic and we want the right stores in the right locations for our customers long term”

– Bunnings UK and Ireland boss PJ Davis on plans to evaluate Homebase’s existing store estate.