Blacks Leisure fell deeper into the red after another tough year for its struggling boardwear business but vowed to press on with its restructuring, providing that Lloyds Banking Group agrees to lend the owner of Milletts more money.

Neil Gillis, who was parachuted in as chief executive 18 months ago before embarking on a plan to cut costs, offload the boardwear business and revitalise the tired Blacks and Milletts brand, said much now depended on how successful the retailer was in extracting more cash from its bankers.