B&Q buys out 31 stores from stricken Focus

THE owners of retailer B&Q have bought 31 stores from financially stricken Focus DIY.

Kingfisher, which also owns the Screw Fix brand, has spent �23 million on the stores after Focus called in the administrators earlier this week.

Around 1,000 jobs are in doubt in North Staffordshire and South Cheshire at the Crewe-based headquarters, and stores in Fenton, Tunstall, Trent Vale, Leek, Congleton, Nantwich and Uttoxeter.

It is not known whether any of these stores are part of the 31 bought by Kingfisher.

The purchased stores have around 700 staff in total, who will not be transferred to the new B&Q stores, but are welcome to apply for positions.

It now plans to refit the vacant properties and open them as new B&Q stores later in the year.

Administrator Ernst & Young said it was still looking for a buyer for the remaining 144 stores, which would continue to trade as normal.

Kingfisher chief executive Ian Cheshire said: "This is a good opportunity for us to accelerate our previously-announced plans to expand B&Q into carefully-targeted UK locations where we currently have no store representation."

Simon Allport, joint administrator at Ernst & Young, said the Kingfisher deal represented an "exceptional outcome" for creditors of Focus DIY, which employs a total of 3,920 staff across the UK.

Source: http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/32715/f/503368/s/14a8f535/l/0L0Sthisisstaffordshire0O0Cnews0CB0EQ0Ebuys0E310Estores0Estricken0EFocus0Carticle0E353250A30Edetail0Carticle0Bhtml/story01.htm

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