In its latest financial report, Homebase's new parent group Wesfarmers has reported sales of £512m at the former HRG-owned retailer during the four months of its ownership. On a like-for-like trading basis for the period from completion to the end of June, transactions were up 7.5%.
Earnings after restructuring and one-off repositioning costs were £500,000. According to the group, these results were "in line with acquisition plans."

Said bosses: "Trading across the early months of ownership has been steady, a good result given disruption from a number of essential change and repositioning activities associated with starting to reshape the Homebase business and extracting it from the linkages to its former owner."

Good progress was reported on the new trading strategies being put in place at Homebase, with the reshaping of its offer to focus "solely on the home improvement and garden market." The retailer is also making use of existing Bunnings relationships to widen the product choice and stock holdings.

The support team at Homebase has been restructured following a number of redundancies earlier in the year, and the new leadership team "is now well established." According to the report, a programme to invest in the development of the Homebase senior team has also begun.

It added: "In the UK and Ireland, work continues in line with the first phase of the previously announced acquisition plans. All work is prioritised around building strong business foundations. This includes driving a stronger operating performance from the repositioned Homebase business, implementing plans for the establishment of four to six pilot Bunnings Warehouse stores in the 2017 financial year and continuing to restructure the underlying business infrastructure to provide support for low-cost, high-capability operations. The original financial guidance for the Homebase acquisition provided in January 2016 is affirmed."