It’s all kicking off Mike Ashley fumes at Debenhams for ignoring his advice

THE billionaire boss of Sports Direct says he will start “smashing into” Debenhams for not listening to his advice after the sportswear seller’s profit took an £85m hit on its stake in the troubled department store chain.

Chief executive Mike Ashley said bosses at Debenhams had ignored his recommendations to start charging customers for click and collect, a service that has seen double-digit growth at the trainers-to-hoodies retailer.

Sports Direct charges £5 to buy a product through click and collect, but hands customers a voucher of the same value when they pick up their purchase in store.

In a meeting with investors, Mr Ashley said: “At some point I will be smashing into [Debenhams] over why they cannot follow anything that Sports

Direct suggests. Nothing.

“Seventy per cent of people will use (the voucher) and spend on average £25 in the store. Now let me think if that is a good thing? Oh yes it is.”

The retailer increased its stake in Debenhams to 29.7pc in March, just shy of the 30pc threshold that would force it to make an offer for the business, but has been forced to write down its value after its shares fell by more than two thirds over the past year.

Sports Direct’s pre-tax profits tumbled 73pc to £77.5m in the year to April 29. They were also skewed by an £80m one-off gain the company made on its sale of Dunlop last year. Underlying profits, stripping out one-off items, grew 35pc to £153m.

Revenue grew 3.5pc to £3.4bn, mostly on the back of surging sales in its nascent US and Asian arms. Jon Kempster, chief financial officer, denied it was a mistake to invest in Debenhams as Sports Direct attempts to land a series of commercial partnerships with the chain.

He said: “Obviously they’re running hard to stand still but we’ve still got an ongoing dialogue with them.”

The retailer also said it had set aside £5m to pay Michael Murray, who is engaged to Mr Ashley’s daughter and has been put in charge of its new “elevation strategy”, aimed at improving its share of the premium end of the market.

The strategy involves opening new stores with better interiors than its existing estate to persuade top brands such as Nike and Adidas to let Sports Direct sell their best products.

Sports Direct shares closed down 7.1pc at 405p.