Home Retail Group is in talks to buy home furnishings retailer Habitat, according to press reports today.
Earlier this month, discussions were said to be centred around selling Habitat-branded items within Homebase stores, but the group is now rumoured to be considering some of the store portfolio as well as the rights to use the brand in the UK.

A spokesman for Home Retail, which owns both Homebase and Argos, said the story was "market speculation at this stage". However, the group is planning to release a statement in the near future.

Habitat was bought by retail restructuring firm Hilco at the end of 2009, and reported losses of almost €40m during 2009/10.