Sainsbury’s agrees to sell Argos for £120m

Sainsbury’s has agreed to sell Argos for £120m as the supermarket chain aims to focus on its core food business.

The buyer, Swift Partners, is a company which has been created to buy the brand and includes former Co-operative Group boss Richard Pennycook.

Under the terms of the deal, Argos will still operate in Sainsbury’s shops, sell Habitat products, and offer Nectar points.

Sainsbury’s said it would be “business as usual” for customers, staff, and suppliers. The deal is expected to complete next February.

Swift Partners’ Pennycook said he believed “strongly in Argos’s future and see real opportunities to invest and build on its progress”.

The deal comes a decade after Sainsbury’s bought Argos – as well as Homebase, Habitat, and all the other retail brands owned by Home Retail Group – for £1.3bn.

Retail analyst Clive Black said he had always questioned whether Argos was “wholly aligned” with Sainsbury’s grocery business, describing the supermarket group’s attempt to sell Argos as “challenging and prolonged”.