Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Ashley’s sporting chance to recover
SPORTS Direct tycoon Mike Ashley has forecast a dramatic turnaround in the firm’s fortunes.
The high street chain, 62% owned by the billionaire, yesterday announced full-year profits slumped 28% to £272million.
But Ashley claimed £300m pumped into stores over the past year, including new “flagship” shops, was paying off.
As a result he predicted profits for the year ahead would bounce back by between 5% and 15%.
The forecast is all the more bullish given expectations of a high street slowdown as shoppers rein in their spending. The prediction triggered a rise of more than 11% in Sport Direct’s share price yesterday. However, the stock is still nearly 60% below what it was in 2015 before the company was rocked by a series of scandals about working practices and dealings with the City.
The results come as Ashley awaits a High Court decision after being sued by an investment banker who claims the tycoon agreed a £15m deal during a booze-fuelled business meeting held in a pub. During the hearing Ashley told the court that Sports Direct’s stock market flotation a decade ago was an “unmitigated disaster”.
Yet the company’s results yesterday hailed the past 10 years, highlighting its £1.8billion tax boost to the economy and £320m in staff bonuses.
Ashley is trying to reinvent Sports Direct as the “Selfridges of sport” – a reference to the upmarket department store.
The Newcastle United owner claimed the firm had “smashed the ball out of the park” with
its plans to date.