Ex-Dolland man to head Blacks

FORMER Dolland & Aitchison boss Russell Hardy is to take over as chief executive of Blacks Leisure, the outdoor clothing and surfwear group, which today reported strong sales and profits growth on the back of booming demand for waterproofs.

Hardy, 44, takes over from Roy Crosland, who is retiring after five years at the end of this year. He will hand over to Hardy over the next couple of months and will stay on with the Millets-to-O'Neill group as a consultant for a further year.

The group said it had enjoyed good growth in camping and hiking, with the dismal summer weather giving a big boost to sales of waterproofs.

This was partly offset by a poor performance from the O'Neill surfwear side, where profit was more than halved, from £1.9m to £700,000.

For the group as a whole, profits for the six months to the end of August rose by 17% to £6.5m pre-tax, on sales 18% ahead at £138.6m. The interim dividend is boosted by 15% to 3p.

Like-for-like sales rose by 6.7% over the period and this has accelerated to 15.5% in the first eight weeks of the second half, although the group points out that this is against a weak performance the previous year.