Warm winter weather has hurt sales of outdoor clothing in the months leading up to Christmas, trading statements from sports and leisure retailers have revealed.

Blacks Leisure said "mild weather restricted sales of outdoor clothing during October and November but sales recovered strongly during December once more traditional weather patterns returned".

A trading update from rival JJB Sports also showed sales of winter jackets were affected by the milder weather during the autumn and early winter 2001.

Blacks said pre-Christmas trading was broadly in line with expectations, with both its Sport & Fashion and Outdoor businesses reporting healthy like-for-like sales growth.

But strong high street competition led to aggressive discounting and a squeeze on margins at its fashion sports wear stores First Sport and AV.

Price battles

The result was "sales growth but at the expense of a further reduction in gross margin" at the Sport & Fashion business, the statement said.

At the Outdoor division, consisting of the Blacks, Millets and Free Spirit chains, margins have recovered, though not to the levels of a year ago.

Earlier in 2001, Blacks' sales of hiking gear were damaged by the foot and mouth epidemic as walkers were banned from large swathes of countryside.

World Cup hopes

JJB Sports said it was "satisfied" with trading performance throughout the current financial year, including the Christmas period, though the high street continues to be "very competitive".

Full-year gross margins are expected to be unchanged on the 48.5% achieved in the first six months, said JJB Sports.

During 2002, it expects a boost for sales of replica football strips from the World Cup.

JJB reported total turnover for the six weeks to 6 January 2002 was 7% higher than the equivalent period last year, while like-for-like turnover improved by 3.5%.

Blacks' winter trading update showed total sales for the 18 weeks to 5 January 2002 were up 16.5% on year-earlier, while total sales for the six weeks to 5 January 2002 were 17% ahead.

Like-for-like sales increased by 7.5% in the 18 weeks and by 9.4% over the six Christmas weeks, said Blacks.