Focus DIY asks for rent holiday as snow hits sales

Updated: The DIY retailer conducted a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) last year, and is using a clause in it that allows Focus  to ask for an extra week in which to pay rent in January and February, according to The Times.

Chief executive Bill Grimsey said: “We are paying all landlords and suppliers to agreed terms.”

The retailer is already on monthly payment terms with its landlords under the terms agreed as part of the CVA, which enabled Focus to ditch 38 of its “dark stores” – those that were not trading.

Grimsey said Focus is financially robust, following the renewal of its revolving credit facility in August, and said it is “not seeking any additional funding”.

He added that its new store format is performing well and that these stores are “contributing significantly to the overall growth of the business”.

The snow badly affected retailers that have stores on retail parks, with Carpetright reporting last week that like-for-likes were down by as much as 30% in the worst hit weeks.

The British Retail Consortium (BRC) released figures this morning that revealed UK retail sales hits a 15-year low in January due to the bad weather, falling 0.7% on a like-for-like basis.