‘Del Boy Billionaire’ saves Homebase! Retail tycoon who turned one in every of Britain’s richest males with The Range strikes rescue deal saving as much as 1,600 jobs – however 49 shops stay in danger

A retail tycoon dubbed the ‘Del Boy Billionaire’ has swooped in to save troubled DIY chain Homebase in a move securing up to 1,600 jobs and 70 stores.

The deal by Chris Dawson, whose company CDS Superstores acts as parent company to The Range, was confirmed this afternoon by administrator Teneo.

But around 2,000 workers and 49 Homebase shops still remain at risk.

Mr Dawson pulled a similar move last September after agreeing to buy the Wilko name, website and intellectual property – entitling him to use the Wilko brand as he sees fit – for £5million after the British homeware chain collapsed. 

News of the deal came just hours after Homebase owners Hilco, who bought the firm for a token £1 in 2018, announced this morning it was appointing insolvency experts after reporting an £84.2 million loss last year.

The threat facing the retail giant came as Britain’s high street continue to suffer after beloved brands including BHS, Wilko, Debenhams, The Body Shop and CarpetRight ran into financial trouble. 

Some have been resurrected as online brands, or live on as zombies of their former selves with just a handful of stores where there was once an empire of hundreds. 

Damian McGloughlin, the managing director of Homebase, told suppliers in August it would begin an ‘active sale process’ to seek new investment. 

Hilco Capital began looking at ways to cut costs earlier this year, blaming overly cautious consumers not splashing out on DIY projects. 

The deal will see Homebase subjected to a ‘pre-pack’ administration sale that sees the firm’s assets bundled up and purchased by another company, which could save some stores and jobs. 

Speaking today, Homebase boss Mr McGloughlin, said the last three years had been ‘incredibly challenging’ for DIY stores, blaming ‘a decline in consumer confidence and spending’ after the pandemic.

‘Against this backdrop, we have taken many and wide-ranging actions to improve trading performance including restructuring the business and seeking fresh investment.

‘These efforts have not been successful and today we have made the difficult decision to appoint administrators.’

Sainsbury’s bought at least 10 stores and there are talks of selling a further 10 to rivals Wickes and Topps. 

Mr Dawson told The Telegraph he is ‘delighted to be able to save so many stores and jobs’.

Analysts suggest Homebase may have run into trouble because of high borrowing costs – stopping homeowners from investing in improvements to their properties.

Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: ‘It’s been tough going in the home renovation market, as consumers have tightened their belts amid high borrowing costs. 

‘Even though interest rates have begun to come down, homeowners have been ultra cautious, with bigger ticket items hard to shift.

‘Some consumers appear to have been ring-fencing spending for holidays and experiences rather than major makeovers.’

She added that competitors such as B&M and Home Bargains – which sell much cheaper, mass-market furniture – will have cleaned up at Homebase’s expense.

Ms Streeter continued: ‘The Range appears to have found a recipe for success with its pile ’em high, sell ’em cheaper approach to homewares, and appears to be mulling expanding its footprint by taking a chunk of Homebase stores. 

‘The future for others remains uncertain, although there may be other takers in the “value” end of the home market, who could swoop in with a cut-price offer.’

Homebase was co-founded by Sainsbury’s in the late 1970s as the supermarket chain looked to diversify its business.

But after Sainsbury’s sold off the firm in the early 2000s it formed part of the Home Retail Group empire, with Argos and Habitat for stablemates.

In 2016, Australian firm Wesfarmers paid £340m for Homebase – and proceeded to run it in baffling fashion.

The entire senior management team was fired, and Wesfarmers tried to lump Brits with Australian sales tactics – including selling barbeques in winter. 

A consignment of mole traps was also sent to Ireland for sale – despite the country having no moles.

The firm lost £420m under Wesfarmers’ ownership after posting a £24m operating profit the year before it was bought over. Wesfarmers, humiliated, sold it to current owners Hilco for just £1.

Hilco has previously overseen the resurrection of HMV, buying it in 2013 before selling it to Sunrise Records, and the sale of designer label Cath Kidston to Next. It also had a hand in the administration of BHS, Peacocks and Debenhams.

Homebase saviour Mr Dawson resides at number 70 on the Sunday Times Rich List – and lives in Monaco.

He was dubbed the ‘Del Boy Billionaire’ due to his distinctive DE11 BOY number plate on his £350,000 Rolls-Royce Wraith coupe.

Mr Dawson, 71, also managed to save part of beloved High Street chain Wilko after finalising a deal to buy the name, website and intellectual property for £5m last year.

He makes no secret of his unabashed desire to be rich, once telling the Mail that as each person comes into his shop he thinks ‘kerching, kerching, kerching!’

His humble beginnings saw him and his two brothers raised on a council estate in Plymouth, with their labourer father Thomas and his cleaner mother, Elsie.

Prospects were bleak – his younger brother still lives in the same house – and money was so sparse that he claims he did not own his first pair of pants until he was 12.

As a boy, he struggled academically and was so severely dyslexic that he left school without a single qualification, unable to read and write.

But dyslexia did not stymie a budding business brain: he began selling ice-creams at the age of seven, before taking on three paper rounds – two of which he subcontracted to friends.

He also earned money by doing early-morning wake-up calls for military officers in his garrison home town of Plymouth and began selling teas to builders on construction sites at the age of 14.

He later embarked on a career as a scrap metal dealer, ‘borrowing’ leftover scraps from his school technology class.

He is a self-confessed workaholic, sleeping only six hours per day and admitting he does nothing to relax, except work.

He reportedly does not have a work email and instead communicates with employees in a regular early-morning conference calls, ensuring he is physically and metaphorically everywhere in the business at all times.

In 2015 he was said to have left grieving relatives ‘distraught’ after his car blocked a body from being taken into a funeral home.

The deceased’s body had just been collected from hospital and driven to an undertakers in Plymouth, Devon.

But when the private ambulance arrived a Range Rover belonging to Mr Dawson was discovered parked outside the clearly marked entrance meaning the ambulance couldn’t be reversed in.

The Range later ‘apologised for any inconvenience’ the vehicle had caused.

In August, Sainsbury’s agreed to acquire 10 Homebase stores and convert them into supermarkets in a deal which is anticipated to create around 1,000 new jobs. 

The locations set for conversion are located in Sutton Coldfield, Bromsgrove, Cromer, Derry/Londonderry, Fareham, Inverurie, Lowestoft, Newark, Omagh and Rugby. 

More to follow.