Sports Direct share bonuses

SPORTS Direct is handing 2,000 employees £21,000 in share bonuses after founder and boss Mike Ashley praised their “magnificent achievements and fantastic loyalty”, writes Ashley Armstrong. “The people at Sports Direct deserve every penny of these bonuses,” said the sportswear tycoon.

However, the bonus payment – worth a total £43m – is only for Sports Direct’s full-time employees, meaning that the majority of the group’s 27,000 staff will not be eligible for the windfall. The bulk of staff at the retailer’s Shirebrook warehouse, which last year was compared to a “Victorian workhouse”, remain on zero-hour contracts.

Keith Hellawell, Sports Direct’s chairman, defended the use of zerohour contracts at the group’s annual meeting earlier this week, and said that workers liked the flexibility of casual contracts.

“It is our policy to treat all people at Sports Direct with dignity and respect and we will continue to make a positive difference,” said a spokesman.

In 2015, Sports Direct paid its 2,000 managers an even higher bonus of £77,000 – reflecting when the shares were trading at around 790p compared to the current 400p trading price.