How do you solve a problem like Big W? There is certainly one school of thought that says it's time to cut and run.

Remember the investor euphoria when Woolworths finally made the decision to exit its ill-conceived and poorly executed foray into home improvement, Masters: It was a tough call that involved admitting responsibility for a failure, a protracted fight with its joint venture partner and the torching of billions in capital.

The stay-or-run question over Big W became more real on Wednesday when it was made clear the $150 million loss that the chain racked up in 2016-17 looks like being repeated this financial year.

It's worth noting that when the decision to surrender Masters was made, it was running at half-yearly losses of around $140 million. Ditching Masters, however, allowed Woolworths to focus on its remaining businesses, in particular its flagship supermarkets business.