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Focus DIY

Overview of Focus

Focus offer an extensive range of DIY and gardening products, primarily to consumers seeking to undertake light home improvement and maintenance projects.

As of May 2009, Focus had 181 stores.

We aim to be the store of choice and convenience for DIY and gardening products in each of the markets in which we operate. We offer a comprehensive range of own brand and branded products. Our product ranges include decorative products (such as paint and wall coverings), core DIY products (such as tools and building materials), home enhancement products (including bathroom and kitchen units) and gardening and seasonal products (such as plants and lawnmowers). The size and scale of our operations allow us to pursue a competitive pricing policy on our core product offering, which we believe promotes strong customer loyalty.

Our stores are well-distributed nationally, with approximately 60% located in our target markets which consists of market towns (with populations of between 20,000 and 80,000) and edge-of-urban locations.

History

We were founded by Bill Archer, our Chairman, and a former business partner in 1987. We have grown through a number of acquisitions, including acquisitions of Do It All Limited in 1998 and Great Mills in 2000. The new businesses were geographically complementary to our existing businesses, with minimal store overlap and a similar strategy of locating stores in market towns. Following these acquisitions, we rebranded all of the stores to the Focus brand. In addition, in September 2000, we acquired Wickes PLC, a business targeting trade customers. Since this acquisition we converted 39 Focus stores located outside our target markets to Wickes stores to improve their profitability.

1987	Bill Archer and a former business partner acquired Choice DIY Limited, a small DIY retailer with six stores in the Midlands and the North.
1988	Acquisition of the Focus chain of six DIY stores.All stores were rebranded ''Focus DIY''.
1988 - 1998	Company had substantial organic growth, expanding from its base of 12 stores to 72 stores.
1998	Acquisition of Do It All (Holdings) Limited with 139 stores.All stores were rebranded as ''Focus Do It All'' (''FDIA'') and Focus became one of the largest DIY retailers in the UK, with 210 stores.
Sept 2000	Acquisition into the heavy DIY segment with the purchase of Wickes plc and 131 stores.
Dec 2000	Acquisition of Great Mills with 98 stores further strengthening its position in the light DIY segment.
2001	All former Focus Do It All and Great Mills stores (other than the seven "No-Frills" stores) were rebranded "Focus".Wickes stores continued to operate under the brand name "Wickes".
2002	Focus Wickes group emerged as the 2nd largest DIY retailer in the UK in terms of turnover and had 430 stores (Focus 291 and Wickes 139).
Feb 2005	Wickes Limited sold to Travis Perkins.
Jan 2007	Appointment of Rothschild to advise the Board of future options for the Group.
26 Jul 2007	Sold to a company backed by funds and/or managed accounts affiliated with Cerberus.
	Appointment of Hilco to manage 52 unperforming stores (Tactical Stores).
11 Oct 2007	13 of the previously identified Tactical stores and a further 39 stores (Strategic stores) are sold on to a number of retailers including Homebase, Wickes and Sainsburys.
Jun 2008	Opening of the first new format store in Wantage, Oxfordshire.
Oct 2008	Launch of the Payless brand of products: DIY and gardening products that are great value and fit for purpose.
Jan 2009	Fifth new form format store opened in Woking. New format stores include Wantage, Pontardawe, Harrogate, Wymondham and Woking

Focus DIY Project Guides - Focus offers helpful DIY project guides online. These installation guides include many diagrams and are well constructed to even include preperation where needed.

A list of Installation and Project guides available online include:

Dealing With Damp, Installing Extra Power Sockets, Standard & Specialist Paints, Tiling A Floor, Erecting A Fence, Insulating Your Loft, Power Circuits, Taps & Sinks, Replacing A Tap, Hanging A Door, Painting Wood, Replacing A Bathroom Suite, Painting Walls And Ceilings, Securing Your Home, Fitting Coving, Preparing To Paint, Ceramic Tiling, Replacing Guttering, Insulating Your Home, Laying Sheet Vinyl Flooring, Laying A Patio, Fitting Front Door Furniture, Laying Laminate & Real Wood Flooring, Lighting Circuits, Installing An Electric Shower, Painting Outside Using Woodcare & Varnishes, Fitting A Mortice Lock andDraught-proofing