Woolworths, fighting off a £1.75m take-over bid from Dixons edge-of-town superstores to the Dee Corporation for £26m cash.
The stores are in Bournemouth, Cumbernauld, Cwmbran, Hatfield, Killingworth, Tyne & Wear, Livingstone, Middleton, Oadby, near Leicester, Newtowards, Sheffield, Thornaby, Cleveland and Washington. Dee will refurbish and operate all but one as Carrefour superstores.
According to Woolworths, though, the sale is not connected with Dixons’ bid. “Woolco was never quite happy sitting in the Woolworth group”, says managing director of Woolworth Properties, Bryan Pickering. “They were conceived in the late 1960s and early 70s and never pursued with sufficient vigour”.
Woolworth’s existing property portfolio is worth about £800m and includes 865 Woolworth stores, 175 B&Q DIY stores and 160 Comet, the out-of-town electrical chain.
Before the Dixons bid was announced, Woolworths had already indicated they would be closing 23 High Street stores. But, according to Bryan Pickering, this does not necessarily mean they will be disposing of them. Some may be redeveloped as investments.
“The world at large focuses at the moment on disposals and has missed our commitment to retailing”, he says. “In the coming year B&Q will assemble a further 1.4m sq ft which, as an illustration, is larger than the total portfolio available to Dixons”.
And, he says, Woolworths are preparing the ground for reinvestment: “Where we believe it will work, we will regain representation.” In practice, this means a new store due soon in Leicester, and negotiations on nine others.
Meanwhile Dixons Commercial Properties have applied for permission to develop about 100,000 sq ft of “galleria” shopping in Cardiff’s Queen Street. Last December, Dixons acquired the freehold of the former BHS store — reportedly paying between £6m and £7m — and since then they have bought the adjoining Marments department store. The Queen Street facade of Marments will be retained, and the new building will have three floors with an arcade and a food court.
