Blacks Leisure Profits Hit By Bad Weather

OUTDOOR clothing group Blacks Leisure has posted a huge £22.3m drop in profits as sales were hit by the unseasonably warm weather. The group, which operates a distribution centre in the North-East, said underlying pre-tax profits plummeted to just £100,000 in the year to March 3, compared to £22.4m a year earlier. Blacks Leisure, which also has the Millets and O'Neill brands, plans to close 45 loss-making stores this year.

Retail Chain To Axe Jobs

Games retailer Games Workshop is to close 35 of its UK stores and shed ten per cent of its workforce over the coming months, after sounding its second profits warning this year. The Nottingham-based firm has seven shops in the North-East and North Yorkshire, but said in a statement it could not yet say where the jobs would be axed.

ICI Profits Up

DULUX paint manufacturer Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) has reported a 12 per cent lift in first quarter profits to £101m, up from £91m last year. ICI described trading in Europe as particularly buoyant and said the outlook for the second period remains positive.

Insolvency Figures Out Tomorrow

New figures out tomorrow are expected to show a record number of insolvencies in the first three months of the year, experts have warned.The DTI's insolvency statistics are expected to reveal that about 30,000 people went bankrupt or took out a Individual Voluntary Arrangement between January and March.

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