JD Sports say Blacks Leisure may cost it £15m this year

JD Sports remains confident that it can return Blacks to profitability in the medium term

Sportswear retailer JD Sports has said that Blacks Leisure, the outdoor clothing and equipment retailer that it bought for £20m in January, is set to cost it a further £15m this year.

<link> <caption>JD Sports said</caption> <url href="http://otp.investis.com/generic/regulatory-story.aspx?cid=222&newsid=253140" platform="highweb"/> </link> that in the current financial year it expected Blacks to report an operating loss of £10m.

It addition, JD Sports said it may face up to £5m of restructuring charges as it tries to turn Blacks around.

It said Blacks had an "excessively large and over rented store portfolio".

JD Sports added that it aimed to return the business to profitability in the medium term.

It had already reported that Blacks recorded a loss of £2.2m in the three weeks to 28 January.

JD Sports like-for-like sales in the UK and Republic of Ireland for the 19 weeks to 9 June - which did not include trading at Blacks - rose 1.2%.

It said trading was in line with expectations, but that profit margins continued to be under pressure as shoppers targeted special offers.