Sainsbury’s to sell Argos
Key Points
- Sainsbury's has agreed to sell Argos to Swift Partners for at least £120 million in cash.
- Swift Partners is a new company backed by retail executives Richard Pennycook, Trevor Strain and Matt Truman with True Capital.
- Nothing changes for shoppers now - the sale is expected to complete in February 2027, with full separation by February 2029.
- Argos will keep its standalone stores, its stores inside Sainsbury's, online delivery and 1,100-plus collection points, and will continue using Nectar.
- Sainsbury's keeps the Argos pension scheme and will carry on selling Habitat products.
Sainsbury’s has agreed to sell Argos to Swift Partners, a new company set up by retail executives Richard Pennycook, Trevor Strain and Matt Truman alongside investment firm True Capital, for cash proceeds of at least £120 million.
Sainsbury’s confirmed the deal in a stock market announcement on Friday (31 July).
It expects to receive at least £70 million when the sale completes in February 2027, including money from the sale of an Argos distribution centre, with a further £50 million paid over the three years that follow. Sainsbury’s will keep responsibility for the Argos pension scheme.
Nothing changes for shoppers in the meantime. Argos and Sainsbury’s will trade exactly as they do now until completion, and Argos will keep operating through its standalone stores, its stores inside Sainsbury’s supermarkets, online delivery and its network of more than 1,100 collection points.
The two companies have signed long-term agreements covering Argos stores and collection points inside Sainsbury’s, the Nectar loyalty scheme and Nectar360, so Argos will continue to use them after the sale. Sainsbury’s will carry on selling Habitat products.
Full separation of the two businesses is expected to take up to 24 months after completion, running to February 2029, with Sainsbury’s providing transitional services during that period.
“Today is an important next step in building the strongest future for Argos and I would like to reassure our colleagues, customers and suppliers that it’s business as usual,” said Simon Roberts, Chief Executive of J Sainsbury plc.
Roberts said the sale lets Sainsbury’s put all its resources into its food business, following earlier disposals of its core banking operation, its ATM business and the Argos Financial Services cards portfolio.
What Swift Partners plans to do with Argos
Pennycook will become executive chair of Argos and work three days a week in the business. Strain and Truman will sit on the Argos board alongside the existing management team.
Pennycook and Strain have more than 35 years of combined experience in senior retail roles at Tesco, The Co-op, Morrisons, Howdens and the RAC, while Truman is executive chair and co-founder of True Capital.
“We see clear potential to strengthen Argos’s customer proposition, digital capabilities and nationwide reach,” said Richard Pennycook, Swift Partners.
The sale includes Argos’s stores, sales channels, brands, logistics network, Argos Care and Argos Pet Insurance. Swift will also take on the Sainsbury’s distribution centre in Daventry and its sourcing offices in Shanghai and Hong Kong, and will assume the leases on the Argos property portfolio.
Sainsbury’s bought Argos in 2016 and shifted it from a catalogue retailer to a digital-first one. Around 80% of Argos sales now start online, it has 20 million active customers, and Fast Track delivery reaches more than 90% of UK postcodes. Argos made an underlying operating profit of £9 million in the last financial year.
The deal still needs regulatory clearance and other standard conditions before it can complete.
