Home Retail vows not to close any Argos stores

Home Retail, the owner of Argos and Homebase, has vowed not to cut the catalogue specialist's 754 UK stores and stick to its strategy, despite tumbling sales at the chain.

Matthew Smith, the finance director of Argos, said the high street stalwart's branches were typically on 15-year leases, but those on 150 stores would come up for renewal over the next five years. Despite this, he said: "We think we can grow our store estate further."

Argos's like-for-like sales tumbled by 9.1 per cent over the half year to 27 August.