The three are in Waterford, Letterkenny and Navan, and the cost is £3.2m (€3.86m). They will join B&Q’s existing network of eight stores in the Republic of Ireland, adding a selling area of over 9,300 square metres.
Last month provisional liquidators were appointed to the company behind Homebase, after the High Court was told it had suffered a UK and Ireland-wide “collapse”.
On December 2, Damien Murran and Enda Lowry, both of Teneo Restructuring, were appointed as joint liquidators after HHGL (ROI) Ltd, trading as Homebase, was put into official liquidation.
Justice Rory Mulcahy made the appointments after satisfying himself the company is insolvent. He was told it employs 178 workers in its eight Irish stores.
About 70 of Homebase’s stores in the UK were bought by CDS Superstores, which owns The Range, a rival chain.
The High Court in Dublin has also approved the sale of some Homebase assets in Ireland to The Range. It was told there had been three bidders for two of the stores – in Sligo and in Nutgrove, Dublin, which between them have 50 staff.
B&Q’s purchase of the three stores is subject to landlord and regulatory approvals. It is expected to convert the first store between January and June of next year, and to complete the branding of all three by the end of 2025.
The company says that on completion of the acquisition, and following a period of consultation with staff at the three stores, all will become employees of B&Q.
Graham Bell, the chief executive of B&Q, said it was delighted to be adding the three stores to its network, and wants to give home improvers more choice and convenience, while these locations “need a home improvement store that fulfils their need”.
He added: “We look forward to swiftly concluding the purchase and converting the stores to the B&Q brand and offer, and to welcoming our new customers to the stores and new colleagues.”
B&Q is one of the UK’s biggest home improvement and garden retailer with over 300 stores in Britain and Ireland, which it says offers over 700,000 products which are also available at diy.com.
B&Q TradePoint is aimed at trade professionals, such as electricians, plasterers, fitters, plumbers and roofers. There are dedicated TradePoint counters at about 200 B&Q stores.
The company employs about 21,000 people, and claims to have more than 20 million customers a year.
B&Q is part of Kingfisher plc, an international home-improvement company that operates about 2,000 stores in eight European countries. The purchases of the three Homebase stores are due to complete in the first quarter of Kingfisher’s 2025/26 financial year.
Kingfisher, which also owns the Screwfix, and Castorama DIY chains, reported adjusted pre-tax profit of £568m for 2023 last March. This was a 25pc fall on the prior year. It reported that sales in Ireland and Britain were “positive” in that period, having made “consistent” market share gains.