Argos owner homing in on Habitat

24th Jun 2011 10:44

The owner of Argos, Home Retail Group, has bought the struggling designer brand Habitat. The £24.5m deal includes Habitat's brand designs and intellectual property in the UK and the Republic of Ireland. Home Retail Group is also acquiring the Habitat UK website and three of the company's London stores.The logic of the deal for the FTSE 250 firm would be to sell high value items under the Habitat brand through its network of Argos and Homebase stores.Home Retail Group has itself had a tough beginning to 2011. Sales at Argos were down by 9.6% in the thirteen weeks to the 28th of May compared to the same period in 2010. Although Homebase fared much better, total group sales were down 8.1% at £817m, while the share price has fallen nearly 17% since the start of the year.BS