Home Retail Group plc (LSE: HOME) was a home and general merchandise retailer based in the United Kingdom. It was the parent company of Argos and Habitat, and also owned the DIY chain Homebase until it sold it to the Australian retailer Wesfarmers in February 2016. Home Retail Group was listed on the London Stock Exchange until it was acquired by the British supermarket company Sainsbury's for £1.4 billion on 2 September 2016.
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History
GUS plc acquired Argos in 1998 and combined it with its mail order business to form Argos Retail Group (ARG) in 2000. It went on to acquire Homebase for £900 million in 2002, bringing it into ARG.
In 2005, GUS bought 33 Index stores, which were subsequently converted to the Argos format. ARG was renamed Home Retail Group upon its 2006 demerger from GUS. Shares in Home Retail Group were traded on the London Stock Exchange as from 11 October 2006.
In 2007, Home Retail Group bought 27 stores from Focus DIY and converted them to the Homebase format.
In 2011, the Group bought the exclusive rights to the Habitat brand, its brand designs and intellectual property in the United Kingdom and Ireland, along with three stores in London and its website.
In November 2015, the Group rejected a £1 billion takeover proposal from the supermarket company Sainsbury's, which it revealed on 5 January 2016.
On 18 January 2016 it was confirmed that Homebase would be sold to the Australian retailer Wesfarmers for £340 million, subject to shareholder approval. The sale was completed on 27 February 2016.
Sainsbury's submitted a revised offer of £1.3 billion on 2 February 2016, with a deadline of 23 February to make a firm bid. Steinhoff International submitted a rival bid of £1.4 billion on 19 February. Steinhoff abandoned its bid on 18 March 2016, while Sainsbury's submitted a formal bid of £1.4 billion.
On 1 April 2016, the company agreed to a takeover offer from Sainsbury's. The deal was completed on 2 September 2016.
Operations
Home Retail Group's businesses, Argos and Habitat operate in over 800 stores across the United Kingdom and Ireland.
The Group had a 49% holding in a multi-channel general merchandise retail business in China, called HH Retail Limited, with Haier Group - one of the world's leading home appliance manufacturers - holding the remaining 51%. The Group sold its 33% shareholding in Ogalas Limited (which trades as 'home store + more' in the Republic of Ireland) on 8 March 2013.
Home Retail Group owns a number of well-known brands, including Alba, Bush, Chad Valley, Cherokee, Habitat, Hygena, Schreiber, Challenge, sovereign, cookworks and Heart of House.
Financial performance
All figures below are for the Group's financial years, which run for 52 or 53 week periods to late February/early March.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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