29th Oct 2019 08:43
(Alliance News) - Sports Direct International PLC said Tuesday that Chief Executive Officer Mike Ashley commented on a report by Sky News on Monday, stating that Goals Soccer Centres has handed a dossier of evidence to the UK Serious Fraud Office.
Sky News said that the five-a-side football pitch operator had handed in a dossier of evidence in the past ten days to the SFO, calling the UK regulator in to examine accounting errors which resulted in Goals Soccer's London shares being cancelled in September.
At the end of August, Goals Soccer Centres put itself up for sale amid its continued investigation into accounting errors related to value-added tax. Goals Soccer had identified evidence of "improper behaviour" by "a number of individuals" since at least 2010.
https://news.sky.com/story/goals-hands-dossier-to-sfo-after-red-card-from-london-stock-market-11847754
In response to the Sky News story, Ashley said that the action by Goals was "far too little far too late and is a deliberate case of closing the stable door well after the horse has bolted."
On Wednesday last week, Sports Direct had called for an investigation into Goals Soccer Centres, after it was forced to drop plans for a 5.0 pence per share takeover offer earlier that week - due to what it described as "limited" and "fitful" access and cooperation from the Goals board.
As a result, Sports Direct said it was unable to complete necessary due diligence to progress the bid.
The FTSE 250 sportswear retailer already holds a 19% stake in Goals.
Shares in Sports Direct were up 0.2% at 315.60 pence on Tuesday in London.
By Dayo Laniyan; [email protected]
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