22nd Mar 2016 12:34
LONDON (Alliance News) - Sports Direct International PLC Founder Mike Ashley has admitted the sporting goods retailer is "in trouble", according to a report by The Times.
Shares in Sports Direct were trading down 8.9% at 386.14 pence on Tuesday afternoon, the worst performer in the FTSE 250.
Ashley reportedly told the Times he had concerns that Sports Direct was "losing momentum" and that he would refuse to appear before a Commons select committee in June, blaming MPs for creating a "spiral of negative publicity" surrounding the company.
"We are in trouble, we are not trading very well. We can't make the same profit we made last year," Ashley said in an interview with the newspaper. "We are supposed to be taking the profits up, they are not supposed to be coming down, and the more the media frenzy feeds on it, the more it affects us."
The billionaire owner of Newcastle United laid the blame on Ed Miliband, according to the Times, who accused Sports Direct of Victorian working practices during the UK general election last year. Ashley claimed that the former Labour leader had cost the staff of Sports Direct GBP60 million in lost bonus payouts.
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/business/industries/retailing/article4718641.ece
In January, Sports Direct issued a profit warning, lowering its full-year expectations for adjusted underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation to between GBP380 million and GBP420 million, from a prior forecast of GBP420 million.
It said at the time this was due to a deterioration of trading conditions on the high street and a continuation of unseasonal weather over the key Christmas period.
Sports Direct has faced widespread criticism in the past year over the way members of staff are treated, following undercover investigations by both Channel 4's Dispatches and The Guardian newspaper.
By Karolina Kaminska; [email protected] @KarolinaAllNews
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