UNCERTAINTY surrounds the future of Dorchester’s Focus DIY store after the company went into administration.

Ernst and Young were appointed administrators of the DIY firm, which has over 175 stores nationwide and employs nearly 4,000 staff, last week.

Kingfisher, owners of DIY chain B&Q, has since agreed a deal to buy up to 31 Focus stores, although the deal is confidential so the locations of the 31 stores have not yet been disclosed.

Focus DIY in Dorchester will continue to trade and customers can visit www.focusdiy.co.uk for the latest information.

Joint administrator Simon Allport, Joint Administrator said: “Low consumer confidence and a very weak housing transaction market has impacted on Focus and placed considerable pressure on sales and margins.

“Despite management's actions to tightly control costs and restructure the operations, unfortunately it has not been possible for the business to continue to trade outside of insolvency.”