Chairman survives shareholder revolt at Sports Direct

SPORTS DIRECT’S under-fire chairman Keith Hellawell has escaped a full-blown investor revolt after the majority of independent shareholders backed his re-election.

Despite mounting criticism of his stewardship at the scandal-hit retailer, the former West Yorkshire Police chief constable scraped a majority backing at the company’s annual general meeting (AGM), with 53 per cent supporting his re-appointment.

However, a tranche, 47 per cent, opposed the move, dealing a bloody nose to the former Government drugs tsar and posing fresh questions about the firm’s corporate governance.

Mr Hellawell, who has relied on majority shareholder Mike Ashley to keep him in post in the past, vowed to step down at this year’s AGM if hit with the same level of protest seen in 2016 when 54 per cent of independent investors voted against his re-election. Facing down more than dozen shareholders ahead of the vote yesterday, he made a defence of the troubled retailer, which has faced a barrage of criticism over its working practices and use of zero-hours contracts.

He said that the biggest challenge for the company this year was to “recognise things that are wrong and have to be put right.”

However, he brushed aside questions over the firm’s failure to shift temporary workers onto permanent contracts.