Neil Gillis plans changes to buck up Blacks Leisure

Leisure Mat Shareholders will receive a final dividend of 1p per share, halfthe amount paid out in 2007. Shares in the group, in which MikeAshley, the Sports World tycoon, owns a 29.4 per cent stake, rose?p to 151p. Mr Gillis said there were signs of encouragement, with camping gear“flying out the stores” as customers, faced with thehigher euro, decide to holiday in the UK. He added that Blacks hadseen strong sales from two new-for-mat stores designed to showcasenew clothing ranges coming into the business. However, he admitted it could take three to four years for a fullrecovery: “I tend to work to that timescale.” MrGillis, the former chief executive of Esporta health club chain, isrepositioning the group so that Blacks stores become a fashiondestination and Millets focuses exclusively on the outdoor pursuitsmarket. The group’s boardwear business, which runs O’Neill andFreespirit, suffered a ￡3.2 million loss in the year toMarch, against a ￡1.3 million profit the year before.Operating profits in the outdoor business, including Blacks andMillets, rose to ￡7.4 million, against ￡2.6 million ayear earlier before one- off charges. Revenue across the business fell 1 per cent to ￡294.4million. Blacks discovered in March that margins in theO’Neill business had been overstated by ￡2 million.Darren Spurling, the director suspended after the discovery of theaccounting black hole, has now been dismissed. Separately, Blacks added that Keith Fleming, the finance directorseen as a potential chief executive last year, was leaving. MarcLombardo, group financial planning director of Greene King, the pubcompany, will take his place.