Homebase has announced it has appointed Ian Penney as director of Bathstore and announces three new concession partnerships. The appointment follows the acquisition of Bathstore, the UK's largest specialist bathroom retailer, by Homebase in July 2019 in a move that is set to considerably strengthen its bathroom offer.

As director of Bathstore, Mr Penney will take direct management responsibly for all aspects of the Bathstore business, including the concession roll out into Homebase, Bathstore's digital offering and the home improvement chain's bathroom category. Mr Penney will be part of the Homebase senior leadership team, reporting into Homebase CEO, Damian McGloughlin.

Having started his career as supply chain analyst with B&Q, Mr Penney arrives at Bathstore with 13 years of senior retail experience behind him. Most recently he was group category director of kitchens for Kingfisher, responsible for the strategic direction of the kitchen business across seven European countries.

Damian McGloughlin said: "We are delighted to welcome Ian into Homebase as director of Bathstore. Ian's leadership qualities and experience of delivering a customer-first approach will be instrumental to the business as we look to strengthen our showroom offer to customers."
Ian Penney, Director of Bathstore, said: "I'm proud to be leading the experienced and knowledgeable Bathstore team at this hugely important milestone in the history of the brand. We've got a really exciting opportunity to reinvigorate Bathstore as we continue to run standalone stores and start to introduce concessions into Homebase."