£100m share boost lifts Ashley’s Sports Direct

Controversial Sports Direct chief Mike ashley gave investors something to shout about yesterday after unveiling plans to buy back £100m of shares in the firm.

as part of the deal, the retailer will buy up to 30m shares from investors between now and september 5.

Companies use so-called share buy-back schemes to boost their share price when they feel they are undervalued.

the tactic worked perfectly for sports Direct. at closing yesterday, its shares were up 4.4pc, or 15.8p, to 373.4p on the back of the announcement.

experts said investors in the 757- store chain, which does not pay dividends to shareholders, will welcome the move.

ashley and sports Direct have been in the firing line in recent years for their fractured relationship with shareholders, poor corporate governance and unacceptable working conditions.

But analysts said the move indicated a thawing of relations – however small – between ashley and investors. russ Mould, of stockbroker aJ Bell, said: ‘share buybacks are like Marmite for investors – you either love them or you hate them.

‘But on a positive note, this suggests sports Direct is paying more attention to the needs of its shareholders, with whom it has had a pretty rambunctious relationship with in the past.’

the FTSE 100 ended the day in negative territory by the smallest of margins, finishing down 0.01pc, or 0.89 points, to 7246.77.

Britain’s blue- chip index has made a slow but steady recovery since a huge shares sell- off sent markets tumbling at the start of the month. But investors have been told to brace for more shocks in the future.

investment bank Morgan stanley says the market turbulence seen earlier this month is merely the ‘appetizer, not the main course’.

Meanwhile, supermarkets defied sector worries by posting decent gains across the board.

Fears are growing that amazon’s entry into the grocery space could spell disaster for many traditional supermarkets.

But in a boost to the retail sector, all of Britain’s major supermarkets finished up yesterday.

Sainsbury’s shares ticked up 1.3pc, or 3.3p, to 254.5, while Tesco nudged up 0.2pc, or 0.5p, at 206.5p.

Morrisons ended the day up 0.9pc, or 2.1p, at 223.3p while a broker note tipping Ocado to sign lucrative deals to sell its software in the Us sent its shares soaring 4.5pc, or 22.2p, to 510.2p.

shares in struggling londonbased drug maker Hikma Pharmaceuticals jumped after the firm revealed industry heavyweight sigurdur olafsson, known as siggi, as the man to turn around its fortunes. olafsson, who has 25 years’ experience in the pharmaceutical sector, was the president and chief executive of israeli giant teva’s generic drugs arm between 2014 and 2016. analysts said olafsson’s appointment will be well received by investors. they were not wrong. shares leapt 4.8pc, or 45.2p by closing to 985.6p.

said Darwazah, the chief executive and chairman, will become executive chairman.

a contract with a major, but unnamed record label, caused shares in music copyright firm

One Media IP Group to rocket. the record label will use one Media’s inelegantly named technical Copyright analysis tool to weed out radio stations, retailers or websites playing its songs without paying for them.

one Media, which is based at Pinewood film studios, owns the rights to more than 10,000 old songs as well as the rights to every Men & Motors tv show that aired between 1996 and 2010. shares sprung up 8.4pc, or 0.75p, to 9.6p.