Chris Dunlavy
A fresh take on football

ADRILL is a drill. Sandpaper is sandpaper. And DIY? Well, that’s the same in Melbourne as it is in Manchester.
Such was the thought process when Wesfarmers, an Australian retail giant with a chain of successful DIY stores, paid £340m to buy Homebase in 2016.
Only it wasn’t the same. Not remotely. Customers departed in droves. Losses stacked up. And in 2018, Wesfarmers sold up for £1, writing off almost £550m in the process.
“It was,” said GlobalData’s retail analyst, Patrick O&...