JD Sports has bought Blacks Leisure out of administration for £20 million.
The retailer has confirmed it will be retaining a senior management team at Blacks led by chief executive Julia Reynolds and said it will be looking to close some of its underperforming stores.
It currently has around 290 trading as Blacks and Milletts and approximately 3,500 staff.
JD said it will evaluate the performance of each store in the coming months in order to reach a conclusion about the number of stores that will be retained long term, adding that following the elimination of any underperforming stores and other cost reduction initiatives it believes the business can be run successfully as independent fascias within the group.
”We are delighted to add another leading multi-branded retail proposition to our portfolio of retail businesses,” says Peter Cowgill, executive chairman of JD Sports Fashion.
“We believe with the support of JD’s operational disciplines and financial strength, along with the existing Blacks management team, we can restore the Blacks business to a profitable market leading position.”
