The GO Outdoors store in Netherton near Wakefield. Photo: Mike Kirby CC-BY-SA-2.0

Gear retailer GO Outdoors will continue its expansion after securing £30m-worth of credit financing from Lloyds Banking Group.

The Sheffield-based company currently has 30 stores across the country and has said it plans to open another 10.

The £30m deal includes £12.2m for trade finance to help the firm expand the lines it provides customers, working with suppliers.

Its sales rose 57 per cent in the year ended 30 January, with like-for-like sales increasing more than 10 per cent.

Private equity firm 3i took a 25 per cent stake in GO Outdoors last month, with former Tesco director Colin Holmes taking over as chairman.

The company started as the Camping and Caravanning Centre in 1969 and in 1998, store manager John Graham led a buyout of the firm.

In April, chairman John Lovering stepped down after only nine months in the job. The company was rumoured to have made a bid for troubled retail group Blacks Leisure, but nothing was taken up.