Blacks goes into administration
UK outdoor apparel and footwear retailer Blacks Leisure has confirmed it will go into administration but said it still hopes most of the business will be salvaged by buyers.
The company owns 98 Blacks outlets and 208 Millets stores and employs 3,600 staff. It failed to find an outright buyer after putting itself up for sale following poor trading. The firm has received offers for the trade, assets and brands of the group and expects to announce the appointment of administrators in the coming days to allow the sale as part of a pre-pack deal.
“The company expects to be in a position to announce a sale of substantially all of the trade, assets and brands of the group within the next few days,” Blacks said in a statement on 6 January, 2012.
It is hoped that the deal will help it save many of the jobs by allowing buyers to cherry-pick its best assets, including the profitable stores. However, some job losses are expected, particularly at its head office and warehouse in Northampton, which costs the company around £26 million a year, including rent and wages.
The company will continue trading as normal as the details of the deal are decided over coming days. A pre-pack deal – an insolvency procedure which sees a company being sold immediately after it has entered administration – would see most of its £36 million of debt wiped out and its worst-performing stores closed.
