"This is not the country’s cricket side, but Bunnings, the Australian DIY retailer, that set out to conquer Britain by revamping Homebase but ended up writing off A$1bn (£547m) after a catalogue of major mistakes."
"“Homebase is undoubtedly the most disastrous retail acquisition in the UK ever,” says GlobalData’s retail analyst, Patrick O’Brien. “I can’t think of a worse one that has made these kinds of losses so quickly.
“The double bank holiday is extremely important for DIY retail because it sets the tone for spring/summer,” he says. “How important it is to Bunnings depends on whether they are actually making a decision [about the future] or have already made it.”
The scale of the Homebase DIY distress became clear last month when Rob Scott, parent company Wesfarmers’ managing director, announced the writedown after bungling the 2016 takeover to the point where quitting the UK becomes a real option.
Perth-based Wesfarmers, one of Australia’s biggest companies, bought Homebase for £340m two years ago, but by Christmas the heavy losses emerging from its UK outpost had become untenable. The chain lost nearly £100m in the last six months of 2017."
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeand...-disastrous-retail-acquisition-in-the-uk-ever
"“Homebase is undoubtedly the most disastrous retail acquisition in the UK ever,” says GlobalData’s retail analyst, Patrick O’Brien. “I can’t think of a worse one that has made these kinds of losses so quickly.
“The double bank holiday is extremely important for DIY retail because it sets the tone for spring/summer,” he says. “How important it is to Bunnings depends on whether they are actually making a decision [about the future] or have already made it.”
The scale of the Homebase DIY distress became clear last month when Rob Scott, parent company Wesfarmers’ managing director, announced the writedown after bungling the 2016 takeover to the point where quitting the UK becomes a real option.
Perth-based Wesfarmers, one of Australia’s biggest companies, bought Homebase for £340m two years ago, but by Christmas the heavy losses emerging from its UK outpost had become untenable. The chain lost nearly £100m in the last six months of 2017."
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeand...-disastrous-retail-acquisition-in-the-uk-ever
