Blacks pushes ahead with £20m fund-raising

The outdoor specialist Blacks Leisure plans to raise £20m from investors to open new stores and refurbish existing ones after annual losses hit £46.9m.

The operator of Blacks and Millets said underlying sales for the year to 27 February had risen 5.4 per cent. It originally proposed the fund-raising in February but had to postpone it after Mike Ashley's Sports Direct blocked it and then failed to launch a takeover. Blacks closed some stores in an insolvency procedure last year. Losses at its remaining shops came in at £7.9m.