Blacks Leisure Group
Encyclopedia
Blacks Leisure Group plc of Northampton
, UK owns British outdoor retailers Blacks, Millets and Free Spirit. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange
and is a constituent of the FTSE Fledgling Index
.
(A43
/A5123 and Northampton services), next to the Grand Union Canal
and about a mile north of Rothersthorpe
It is a constituent of the FTSE Fledgling Index
. It currently has 313 stores.
It bought the Outdoor Group, which included Millets and Free Spirit, in November 1999 for £51 million, having first offered £55 million. At the time Blacks had 42 stores and a 40% share in the Fila
UK Ltd sportswear firm; it sold this share to the parent company in July 2000 for £12 million. In May 2002 it sold its sports division, 187 First Sport outlets, to JD Sports
(John David Group) for £53 million and bought 47 outlets of Famous Army Stores in February 2002. In July 2003 it bought the Just Add Water chain of 10 shops for £4.3 million. On November 2004 it bought 27 Outdoor outlets for £2.6 million from The Scout Association
. Until 2006, it engaged in an expansion of its business by opening many new stores, especially on retail parks. This expansion was short-lived.
, which itself closed in May 2008, moving to the Northampton headquarters. The first UK based O'Neill store opened in December 1997 in Covent Garden
Sandcity went into administration on 23 September 2009. This had to happen when the bank (Lloyds) refused Blacks' offer to convert them into Blacks stores. The wholesale license of O'Neill in the UK was handed back to Logo Group International, based in the Netherlands at the same time.
In October 2009 89 stores where shut down as part of a restructuring, after the company went through a CVA which was supported by a huge majority of creditors. Before the closure it had 256 Millets, 116 Blacks and 32 Freespirit. By February 2010 it had 208 Millets, 92 Blacks and 13 Freespirit. The CVA was executed and Blacks exited a number of loss-making stores but not before a number of the stores classed as "loss making" underwent an extensive refurbishment program using around £6m of capital. The mostly costly of these stores was the Air.Land and Sea store operating out of Bluewater shopping centre in Kent http://www.bluewater.co.uk/news.aspx?urlkey=wh_newslist&newsid=158. After a costing an estimated £3m and branded "the first of many to open in the UK", the store was in operation for less than 12 months and closed as part of a CVA. Of all the stores refurbished, they were originally reported to be trading ahead of the rest of the estate. Unfortunately, several of the newly refurbished stores remained loss-making and were closed when a CVA was agreed. Of the refurbished stores, the newly refurbished blacks store at the ex freespirit site in Northampton was also closed.
On 23 November 2009, it reached an agreement with its creditors - landlords of its stores - which needed 75% backing. This saved the company from liquidation
, with a period of great uncertainty from September to November. In the summer of 2009, camping was a popular option for many families who could no longer afford a more expensive holiday abroad though Blacks failed to capitalise on the estimated £1.2billion share of the UK market.
In early 2010, the company received a £26 million takeover offer from Sports Direct
, which it fought off. Sports Direct owned around 30% of Blacks' shares. It was at this time that Blacks sold off its Mambo boardwear arm for an estimated £800,000 to New Zealand born Andrew Gerrie (CEO of Lush cosmetics).
Private equity funds, including the owner of rival Cotswold Outdoor, circle Blacks after it confirms early talks on a possible offer in late October 2010
Millets was founded in 1893 by Mr J.M. Millet and had two stores in Southampton
and Bristol
. In 1978, the company moved to Northampton. In 1986, it formed Millets Leisure plc. This became the Outdoor Group in 1996 with 158 stores, which was bought by Blacks Leisure plc in 1999.
In the 1850s, Thomas Black went to Australia, prospecting
for gold
. He then went to Spanish Guinea
in West Africa, where he worked for the London company Laughland and Brown as an agent, where he traded calico cotton fabric for ivory
. The conditions were not good for his health so he returned to Scotland, setting up a sailmaking business in Greenock
in 1861. Many ships were made on the Clyde, but by the 1900s, fewer ships were powered by sail so his son Thomas (Junior) changed the business priorities to making tents instead. His father died in 1905 and he took over the company, making many tents for the Army in the First World War. He died in May 1930, and his son, D Crawford Black took over.
expanded its profile from 10 to 24 stores and is still growing.
s for boats on D-Day. During the early part of the war, the workshops in Greenock were destroyed by a parachute mine
on 8 May 1941.
range, particularly jackets and overtrousers.
Northampton
Northampton is a large market town and local government district in the East Midlands region of England. Situated about north-west of London and around south-east of Birmingham, Northampton lies on the River Nene and is the county town of Northamptonshire. The demonym of Northampton is...
, UK owns British outdoor retailers Blacks, Millets and Free Spirit. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange
London Stock Exchange
The London Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located in the City of London within the United Kingdom. , the Exchange had a market capitalisation of US$3.7495 trillion, making it the fourth-largest stock exchange in the world by this measurement...
and is a constituent of the FTSE Fledgling Index
FTSE Fledgling Index
The FTSE Fledgling Index consists of under 200 UK companies outside of the FTSE All-Share Index.This Index is calculated in real-time and published every minute.-Current constituents of the FTSE Fledgling Index:*AEA Technology*AXA Property Trust Ld...
.
Structure
It is based at Swan Valley, Northampton. This is off junction 15a of the M1M1 motorway
The M1 is a north–south motorway in England primarily connecting London to Leeds, where it joins the A1 near Aberford. While the M1 is considered to be the first inter-urban motorway to be completed in the United Kingdom, the first road to be built to motorway standard in the country was the...
(A43
A43 road
The A43 is a primary route in the English Midlands, that runs from the M40 motorway near Ardley in Oxfordshire to Stamford in Lincolnshire. Through Northamptonshire it bypasses the towns of Northampton, Kettering and Corby which are the three principal destinations on the A43 route...
/A5123 and Northampton services), next to the Grand Union Canal
Grand Union Canal
The Grand Union Canal in England is part of the British canal system. Its main line connects London and Birmingham, stretching for 137 miles with 166 locks...
and about a mile north of Rothersthorpe
Rothersthorpe
Rothersthorpe is a small village of medieval origin, in South Northamptonshire, England, with a population of 500 in the 2001 Census. It is from the town of Northampton.-Governance:...
It is a constituent of the FTSE Fledgling Index
FTSE Fledgling Index
The FTSE Fledgling Index consists of under 200 UK companies outside of the FTSE All-Share Index.This Index is calculated in real-time and published every minute.-Current constituents of the FTSE Fledgling Index:*AEA Technology*AXA Property Trust Ld...
. It currently has 313 stores.
Group history
Blacks Leisure Group was formed in 1985. It has doggedly survived financial difficulties in 1986 and 2009. In September 1986 it, and its 280 employees and 44 stores, almost went into receivership. A £3.3 million offer came from the Sears Group who owned Millets, but this transaction was not completed. It received a cash injection from investors to keep it afloat the following month. It bought Miss Sam Holdings, a childrenswear company, in July 1987 for £45 million. At this time it was headed by Bernard Garbacz. In 1989 it moved its operations to Washington .It bought the Outdoor Group, which included Millets and Free Spirit, in November 1999 for £51 million, having first offered £55 million. At the time Blacks had 42 stores and a 40% share in the Fila
Fila (company)
Fila is one of the world's largest sportswear manufacturing companies. Founded in 1911 in Italy, Fila has been owned and operated from South Korea since a takeover in 2007. Headed by chairman and CEO Yoon-Soo Yoon, Fila now has offices in 11 countries worldwide....
UK Ltd sportswear firm; it sold this share to the parent company in July 2000 for £12 million. In May 2002 it sold its sports division, 187 First Sport outlets, to JD Sports
JD Sports
JD Sports Fashion plc, more commonly known as just JD, is a sports-fashion retail company based in Bury, Greater Manchester, England with shops throughout the United Kingdom and with one in Ireland...
(John David Group) for £53 million and bought 47 outlets of Famous Army Stores in February 2002. In July 2003 it bought the Just Add Water chain of 10 shops for £4.3 million. On November 2004 it bought 27 Outdoor outlets for £2.6 million from The Scout Association
The Scout Association
The Scout Association is the World Organization of the Scout Movement recognised Scouting association in the United Kingdom. Scouting began in 1907 through the efforts of Robert Baden-Powell. The Scout Association was formed under its previous name, The Boy Scout Association, in 1910 by the grant...
. Until 2006, it engaged in an expansion of its business by opening many new stores, especially on retail parks. This expansion was short-lived.
Financial troubles
In 2008/9 it made a loss of £6.8 million, which was a pre-tax loss of £14.4 million. Freespirit and O'Neill were not selling well, but the more well known stores were better. In early 2009 it had 12 O'Neill surf shops but later that year Blacks is thought to have entered talks with Ronald De Waal (owner of the O'Neill brand name) to try and arrange a deal with between O'Neill and Logo Group International based in the Netherlands to offload the stores. Sadly, a deal never materialised and the stores faced closure when Sandcity, the company who held the license to sell and distribute O'Neill in the UK was put into administration. Sandcity had been based in Washington, Tyne and WearWashington, Tyne and Wear
Washington is a town in the City of Sunderland in Tyne and Wear, England. Historically part of County Durham, it joined a new county in 1974 with the creation of Tyne and Wear...
, which itself closed in May 2008, moving to the Northampton headquarters. The first UK based O'Neill store opened in December 1997 in Covent Garden
Covent Garden
Covent Garden is a district in London on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St. Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit and vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist site, and the Royal Opera House, which is also known as...
Sandcity went into administration on 23 September 2009. This had to happen when the bank (Lloyds) refused Blacks' offer to convert them into Blacks stores. The wholesale license of O'Neill in the UK was handed back to Logo Group International, based in the Netherlands at the same time.
In October 2009 89 stores where shut down as part of a restructuring, after the company went through a CVA which was supported by a huge majority of creditors. Before the closure it had 256 Millets, 116 Blacks and 32 Freespirit. By February 2010 it had 208 Millets, 92 Blacks and 13 Freespirit. The CVA was executed and Blacks exited a number of loss-making stores but not before a number of the stores classed as "loss making" underwent an extensive refurbishment program using around £6m of capital. The mostly costly of these stores was the Air.Land and Sea store operating out of Bluewater shopping centre in Kent http://www.bluewater.co.uk/news.aspx?urlkey=wh_newslist&newsid=158. After a costing an estimated £3m and branded "the first of many to open in the UK", the store was in operation for less than 12 months and closed as part of a CVA. Of all the stores refurbished, they were originally reported to be trading ahead of the rest of the estate. Unfortunately, several of the newly refurbished stores remained loss-making and were closed when a CVA was agreed. Of the refurbished stores, the newly refurbished blacks store at the ex freespirit site in Northampton was also closed.
On 23 November 2009, it reached an agreement with its creditors - landlords of its stores - which needed 75% backing. This saved the company from liquidation
Liquidation
In law, liquidation is the process by which a company is brought to an end, and the assets and property of the company redistributed. Liquidation is also sometimes referred to as winding-up or dissolution, although dissolution technically refers to the last stage of liquidation...
, with a period of great uncertainty from September to November. In the summer of 2009, camping was a popular option for many families who could no longer afford a more expensive holiday abroad though Blacks failed to capitalise on the estimated £1.2billion share of the UK market.
In early 2010, the company received a £26 million takeover offer from Sports Direct
Sports Direct
Sports Direct International plc is a British retailing group. Founded in 1982 by former county squash coach Mike Ashley, the company is now the UK's largest sporting retailer through a number of retail subsidiaries and sports equipment brands. Although now a publicly traded company on the London...
, which it fought off. Sports Direct owned around 30% of Blacks' shares. It was at this time that Blacks sold off its Mambo boardwear arm for an estimated £800,000 to New Zealand born Andrew Gerrie (CEO of Lush cosmetics).
Private equity funds, including the owner of rival Cotswold Outdoor, circle Blacks after it confirms early talks on a possible offer in late October 2010
Millets
Millets, with over 200 stores, is the UK's largest travel and outdoor retailer. Its own brands that are sold within the Millets fascia are traditionally Eurohike, Peter Storm and Equator. ALS is another house brand that was only stocked under the Blacks fascia. Recently ALS has been found within Millets stores replacing Equator which has been mostly discontinued.Millets was founded in 1893 by Mr J.M. Millet and had two stores in Southampton
Southampton
Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...
and Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
. In 1978, the company moved to Northampton. In 1986, it formed Millets Leisure plc. This became the Outdoor Group in 1996 with 158 stores, which was bought by Blacks Leisure plc in 1999.
Blacks
Blacks has 90 UK stores, originally specialising in the serious walking and hiking kit. Recently they have diversified to including running clothing and more fashion based lines.In the 1850s, Thomas Black went to Australia, prospecting
Prospecting
Prospecting is the physical search for minerals, fossils, precious metals or mineral specimens, and is also known as fossicking.Prospecting is a small-scale form of mineral exploration which is an organised, large scale effort undertaken by mineral resource companies to find commercially viable ore...
for gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
. He then went to Spanish Guinea
Spanish Guinea
Spanish Guinea was an African colony of Spain that became the independent nation of Equatorial Guinea.-History:The Portuguese explorer, Fernão do Pó, seeking a route to India, is credited with having discovered the island of Bioko in 1472. He called it Formosa , but it quickly took on the name of...
in West Africa, where he worked for the London company Laughland and Brown as an agent, where he traded calico cotton fabric for ivory
Ivory
Ivory is a term for dentine, which constitutes the bulk of the teeth and tusks of animals, when used as a material for art or manufacturing. Ivory has been important since ancient times for making a range of items, from ivory carvings to false teeth, fans, dominoes, joint tubes, piano keys and...
. The conditions were not good for his health so he returned to Scotland, setting up a sailmaking business in Greenock
Greenock
Greenock is a town and administrative centre in the Inverclyde council area in United Kingdom, and a former burgh within the historic county of Renfrewshire, located in the west central Lowlands of Scotland...
in 1861. Many ships were made on the Clyde, but by the 1900s, fewer ships were powered by sail so his son Thomas (Junior) changed the business priorities to making tents instead. His father died in 1905 and he took over the company, making many tents for the Army in the First World War. He died in May 1930, and his son, D Crawford Black took over.
Boardwear Division
It is said that the boardwear division has been responsible for the recent financial troubles of Blacks Leisure. At its peak, the boardwear arm of Blacks Leisure Group was operating through Freespirit, O'Neill, Mambo and Just Add Water. The appointment of current CEO Neil Gillis, saw the baordwear arm of Blacks slowly diluted as part of a turnaround plan and restructuring of the group to focus on the core part of the business, Camping and Outdoor. Today, all that remains of the boardwear division is Freesprit which operates from 12 stores.freespirit
Acquired as part of a deal that saw the company acquire the Millets chain. Originating from Sheffield, the original owners of Freespirit specialised in Windsurfing, Wakeboarding, Mountain Boarding and a variety of other adrenalin sports equipment. After taking over Freepsirit, Blacks put a fashionable stamp on the stores and it worked. However, after a severe lack of vision and no attempt to regenerate or engage its customers with the same old tried and tested formula, freespirit struggled at a time when the boardsports 10 year trend cycle was on an upward trend. This lack of vision was realised in 2009/10 when it trimmed its 32 stores to 13. At the same time, another northampton based Boardwear company 2SeasonsTwo Seasons (retailer)
Two Seasons is a chain of 24 skateboard, surf and snow sports shops in the UK, selling clothing and equipment for the related sports. The company is owned by Billabong Clothing whose headquarters are in Australia.-History:...
expanded its profile from 10 to 24 stores and is still growing.
O'Neill / Sandcity
Sandcity was born after a business based in Tyne & Wear acquired the license to the distribute O'Neill in the UK. The company lacked capital and sought funding from Blacks Leisure Group. Blacks agreed and Sandcity was created. Blacks appointed Darren Spurling as Managing Director who oversaw the company until 2008 when the Sandcity business was transferred from Washington, Tyne & Wear to Blacks Head Office in Northampton. Following the restructuring of the Sandcity subsidiary, the O'Neill brand in the UK was slowly but eventually diluted. In 2009 the O'Neill license was removed from Black Leisure and handed back to Logo Group International based in the Netherlands and is the Global HQ of O'Neill.Mambo
Mambo was acquired in 2006 after Blacks signed a five year agreement for the rights to develop and distribute the Mambo brand throughout Europe. The deal was said to be worth an estimated £40 million. Following initial growth, the Mambo brand was also diluted as part of the restructure of the core business. In February 2010, Blacks sold Mambo to New Zealand born Andrew Gerrie (CEO of Lush Cosmetics) for £800,000.Just Add Water
The majority of Just Add Water stores were transformed into Freepsirit stores after the company's acquisition.Second World War
In 1931, it published the first Good Companions catalogue. In the Second World War, Blacks again made tents for the Army and Navy and made fenderFender (boating)
In boating, a fender is a bumper used to absorb the kinetic energy of a berthing boat or vessel against a jetty, quay wall or other vessel. Fenders are used to prevent damage to boats, vessels and berthing structures. Fenders are nowadays constructed in several ways, typically of rubber, foam...
s for boats on D-Day. During the early part of the war, the workshops in Greenock were destroyed by a parachute mine
Parachute mine
A parachute mine is a parachute naval mine dropped from an aircraft. They were mostly used in World War II by the Luftwaffe and initially by the Royal Air Force Bomber Command.-Blast effects:...
on 8 May 1941.
Acquisitions
A Canadian subsidiary opened in 1958. Throughout the 1960s, it bought smaller companies. Then in 1967, it bought Benjamin Edginton Ltd, a tent maker. In 1984, it joined with Greenfields plc, then became the Black Leisure Group plc in 1985. In 1994, Blacks Camping became Blacks Outdoors.Technicals
TECHNICALS is an outdoor clothing and equipment manufacturer owned by Blacks Leisure Group. It was launched in 2005 by The Outdoor Group, initially as a fashionable and practical outdoor clothing range. However, they soon began designing and manufacturing their waterproof and breathable eVENTEvent
Event can refer to many things such as:* An observable occurrence, phenomenon or an extraordinary occurrenceA type of gathering:* A ceremony, for example, a marriage* A competition, for example, a sports competition* A convention...
range, particularly jackets and overtrousers.
Products
The company manufactures the following brands for sale in its Blacks and Millets stores:- Peter Storm
- Eurohike
- ALS
- Storm Tech (until the end of 2009)
- Storm Shield
- Technicals
- Rare Species was a further brand that has recently been withdrawn
External links
- Blacks Leisure Group plc (corporate)
- Blacks shops
- Company information
- Careers
- Reviews of Blacks at DooYoo
- Reviews of Blacks website
News items
- Sports Direct gives up interest in April 2010
- Rescue plan in November 2009
- Closing 89 shops in September 2009
- Uncertainty in September 2009
- Director suspended in March 2008
- Closing 45 stores in March 2007
- Good summer in 2003