ABOUT 60 jobs in the region were under threat last night as outdoor clothing specialist Blacks Leisure said it was looking to close about 45 shops across the UK after an ongoing decline in profits.

The firm said the axe would fall predominantly in its Millets division, which has 11 stores in the North-East and North Yorkshire, and which employ about 60 people in the region.

The closures come in the wake of sales "substantially down" on expectations, after a six per cent drop in Christmas takings and a plunge in first-half profits from £6.9m in 2005 to £100,000.

Last night, a Blacks spokeswoman said she could not confirm which of the 286 Millets stores in the UK would fall victim to the closures, but said the decision had been taken in an attempt to revive the group's trading performance.

"Staff levels will be in accordance with the portfolio of stores remaining in the group, but wherever possible, all efforts will be made to re-assign staff to other stores," she added.

The brand's outlets in the region are in Bishop Auckland, Darlington, Gateshead, Harrogate, Hexham, Middlesbrough, Newcastle, Redcar, Skipton and two in York.

Millets branches which were added to the group after the acquisitions of Scouts Association Stores and Famous Army Stores are understood to be most at risk of closure.

Northampton-based Blacks, which also trades under the O'Neill brand, said its 101 Blacks Outdoor stores - of which there are six in the North-East - would probably be unaffected by the closures.

The group said that after its disappointing trading spell, it expected its trading for the full financial year would see it "broadly break even" after cutting back on several aspects of its business.

Blacks yesterday announced it is reducing its expansion programme from ten new stores to two, and said it is continuing its operational review of products and pricing across its stores.

Chief executive Russell Hardy said he believed the group would recover from its recent performance.

"We remain confident that our market leadership in the growing outdoor market, combined with our re-balanced ranges for 2007 and the operational measures announced today, will help drive a significantly improved performance for the next financial year," he said.

Market analyst Richard Ratner, from Seymour Pierce, said Blacks' profit forecasts for the full-year had been slashed from £1.5m to zero. "Although the closure of a clutch of Millets units is positive, given the tertiary position of some of them, it will be interesting to see how long it takes to move them on," he said.