Outdoors retail group Blacks plunged deeper into the red in the first half of this year.

Losses are forecast to increase to £4.5m from £600,000 in the same period last year. The company owns 110 Blacks Outdoors and 260 Millets stores across the country.

Sales of outdoor wear and equipment fell 5.2 per cent in a like-for-like comparison, which was, a company spokesman said, broadly in line with its expectations.

A statement issued by Blacks said: “The group has traded satisfactorily for the majority of the first half, however recent trading, especially during August, was difficult.”

September had, however, been more encouraging.

The results signal more misery for controversial Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley, whose company owns 25 per cent of Blacks. Mr Ashley, who has criticised Blacks’ commercial strategy in the past, hit the headlines when football fans protested against the departure of the club’s boss Kevin Keegan.

Mr Ashley is now looking for a buyer for Newcastle United.

In July, Blacks boasted that the combination of consumers abandoning foreign holidays and the increased custom from music festival-goers had boosted its camping equipment sales.

However, the sales of boarding clothing under Blacks’ Freespirit, Mambo, Animal and O’Neill brands fell more than 16 per cent dragging the group’s results lower. Shares plunged to their lowest level this morning on news of the expected losses.

Blacks was originally founded by a chandler from Greenock, on the Firth of Clyde.