23rd Mar 2016 07:13
LONDON (Alliance News) - Sporting goods retailer Sports Direct International PLC on Wednesday clarified its trading position following comments from founder Mike Ashley on Tuesday which sent its shares spiralling lower.
Sports Direct said Wednesday its adjusted underlying earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation would be at or around the bottom end of the guidance issued in January, when it lowered its expectations to between GBP380 million and GBP420 million, from a prior forecast of GBP420 million.
Sports Direct had closed down 12% on Tuesday, the worst performer in the FTSE 250, after Ashley, the group's executive deputy chairman, told The Times newspaper in an interview that the company was "in trouble".
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."
Investors were concerned that the comments from Ashley superseded previous trading updates from Sports Direct and that the situation for the company had deteriorated.
By Sam Unsted; [email protected]; @SamUAtAlliance
Copyright 2016 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Related Shares:
Sports Direct