A DIY home and garden improvement retail giant that collapsed into administration with the loss of thousands of jobs owed £803m.
A report reveals for the first time the extent of job losses at Homebase and that 1,299 creditors face losing more than £700m following the 2025 closure.
The home and garden giant which had 135 stores across the UK, slumped into administration after suffering losses of over £59m. At that stage, it had 3,446 employees.
READ MORE: Homebase staff 'gutted' by closure of retail park store
Among the Homebase stores which closed, was one at Fairacres Retail Park in Abingdon, which closed early last year after a rescue effort failed.
Staff and customers said they were "gutted" by the closure. Now the unit is occupied by Marks & Spencer, which opened a new foodhall in April.
Gavin Park, Gavin Maher and Adele MacLeod, of Teneo Financial Advisory, were appointed as joint administrators and they told how demand for garden and home equipment was profitable during and following the pandemic but that it dropped off to a loss after this.
The administrators said: “These losses are attributed to a number of factors affecting retail and the DIY sector, including a decline in consumer confidence and spending, high cost inflation, high interest rates, expensive freight costs, shipping delays and poor weather particularly through the peak spring and summer seasons.”
The business, including 70 stores and intellectual property, was sold to CDS (Superstores International) Limited, owned by retail magnate Chris Dawson and trading as The Range and Wilko for £25.6m.
As part of the transaction, 1,150 employees were transferred to the new owner in November 2024 and the remaining stores creased trading in March 2025.
Administrators said about 2,300 employee claims totalling £938,000 were expected.
Wells Fargo Capital was owed £20.1m which was repaid in full repaid, and Ark Finco was owed £80m.
So far, payments totalling £57.5m have been made to Ark Finco which “made a portion of the distributions due to it under its security available to employees who had been made redundant because of the company's administration”.
Administrators received an HMRC claim for £10.2m for unpaid PAYE and employee national insurance contributions.
The company received 1,299 claims from unsecured creditors for a total of £693m, made up mainly of one unsecured claim submitted by Ark Finco for £523m.
Homebase stores at Seacourt off Botley Road, Oxford, and in Banbury, closed before the company went into administration.
The Range stores replaced Homebase stores at Horspath Driftway in Oxford, and in Bicester.
