Home Retail Group has bought the Alba and Bush trademarks in a cash deal worth more than £15 million.

The owner of Argos and Homebase said today that it would pay Alba plc £15.25 million for exclusive use of the names on consumer electronics goods on sale in Argos.

Alba is currently undergoing restructuring and has halted the supply of the branded products. As part of the agreement announced today, Alba is to change its name to Harvard International plc.

In a statement, Home Retail Group said: "The trademarks are household names with very strong heritage which have high awareness and purchase frequency with Argos customers."

The announcement comes on a difficult day for the British high street. Last night the board of Woolworths was forced to call in the administrators, despite government efforts to save it from collapse.

MFI, the furniture chain, also fell into administration last night, for the second time in two months.

This morning, Kingfisher, the DIY group, said it would close its Trade Depot stores and channel the resources into supporting its B&Q chain in a weakening high street environment.

Home Retail Group expects the deal to be "broadly earnings neutral" for the financial year ending February 2010.

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