Ashley bullish as shares soar
SPORTS Direct chief executive Mike Ashley blasted Jeremy Corbyn as “clueless” as his company insisted it is starting to see signs of recovery at House of Fraser, which it purchased from administrators for £90million last year.
The company also said a €674million (£561million) tax inquiry into unpaid VAT in Belgium is progressing well and bosses expect a decision on €491million to be made by early next year.
The revelations come as the business, which has snapped up several underperforming high street names in recent years, saw sales jump 14 per cent in the six months to October 27 to £2billion, with pre-tax profits up 160 per cent to £193.4million.
Investors were impressed, with shares closing the day at a four-year high, up 112.2p to 472.2p. Shareholders also voted in favour of the company changing its name to Frasers Group.
Mr Ashley used the results as an opportunity to attack his rivals, regulators and politicians over some of the scandals at businesses where Sports Direct had been a shareholder.
He also made a parting shot at the outgoing Labour leader, saying: “Mr Corbyn attacked our business during the election campaign, but he really should have checked his facts as he really was shown to be ‘clueless’.
“He clearly has zero awareness of the fact we are one of the very few groups, and also one of the first, to have a workers’ representative as a statutory director of the group.”
The retail tycoon also demanded that restructuring advisers should be regulated, as the sector had “become the Wild West in terms of deceit, dishonesty and self-interest”.
In terms of sales, it was a strong period for the company, as it focused on its “elevation” strategy of improving stores.
Sales in its UK sports retail business, which includes Sports Direct, Jack Wills, Game Digital, Evans Cycles and Sofa. com, rose 6.7 per cent to £1.2billion.
But when stripped out of the growth from takeovers, sales fell 8.6 per cent.
On department store House of Fraser, the company insisted “green shoots of recovery” are starting to emerge – but some stores still “are unprofitable and thus not sustainable”.