The outdoor life is proving lucrative for Blacks

The group, based in Northampton, Northants, owns the Millets, Blacks and O'Neill chains.

On Tuesday the firm said like-for-like sales were 1.5% higher in the eight weeks to 14 January.

This offset the 4.8% drop seen in October when warm weather affected demand. Across the 20 weeks to 14 January, sales were down 2.6%.

Analysts had predicted the firm would make �21.2m in pre-tax profits for the year.