Distributor Proteam UK has entered administration, owed £3m by Focus.
Jason Baker and Geoff Rowley from FRP Advisory LLP were appointed joint administrators on June 13, and are continuing to trade the business as a going concern.

Commenting on the reasons for the administration, Mr Baker said: "A large proportion - approximately 35% - of Proteam UK's sales came from Focus, the DIY chain, which itself entered administration in May 2011. As a result of the loss of sales from this major client, Proteam UK experienced serious liquidity problems and was unable to continue to trade without the protection of administration."

He added: "There are currently no plans for any redundancies and it is very much business as usual. We continue to trade the company as a going concern, whilst seeking a buyer for the business."

Speaking to DIY Week, Mr Baker revealed that Focus owed Proteam around £3m, making the administration a "direct consequence" of Focus' collapse.

However, he added: "In this case it's quite clear why the business failed - it wasn't through mismanagement. We have already informed staff that we are continuing to trade for the foreseeable future, and that means the next two to three weeks. In that time we will be contacting interested parties about selling the business.

"I would say that we are confident at this stage of selling it as a going concern because we have a high success rate of selling businesses and the business still has a significant number of customers. My personal opinion is that perhaps another distributor looking for customers is probably the better bet."

Last week DIY Week reported that Focus administrator Ernst & Young has agreed to allow Focus to pay New Zealand-based shower company Methven UK Limited £329,675 plus VAT. The company, which trades as The Deva Tap Company in the UK, lost nearly £1m due to Focus' collapse.

Ernst & Young has not yet released a date for a creditors meeting, and now has less than two weeks to release a full creditors list.