Broker snap: Asda plus Home Retail makes sense

12th Apr 2010 13:11

Shares in Argos and Homebase owner Home Retail were a hot ticket on Monday morning after the Mail on Sunday reported that Asda, which is owned by the world's biggest retailer, Walmart, is considering a bid for the company.The share price is closing in on 300p, but there could be more juice to be extracted in the view of Shore Capital, which thinks that the deal would make commercial sense for Walmart even at 370p per share. "Home Retail is the market leader in most of its product categories and its market-leading, multi-channel business model would make it an attractive business, we believe. Its customer base also has a similar demographic profile to Asda," Shore Capital analyst Kate Calvert said.