Mike Ashley launches attack against competition regulator over Footasylum takeover by JD Sports

Sports Direct boss Mike Ashley. Pic: Joe Giddens/PA Wire.

Mike Ashley has launched a public attack on the Competition and Markets Authority over its investigation into the takeover of Footasylum by JD Sports.

The watchdog is looking at whether competition will be reduced following the deal, but the Sports Direct boss said assumptions made by officials on his retail empire are wrong.

Sports Direct said: “Sports Direct... notes that the CMA has... published inaccurate estimates of Sports Direct’s share of the supply of ‘sports-inspired casual apparel and also footwear’, both on an in-store and online basis, which wrongly suggest that Sports Direct would have a comparable share of supply to the merged parties.

“Sports Direct disagrees with these estimates as they substantially overstate its presence on each of the markets which are the subject of the CMA’s investigation. Sports Direct does not have a meaningful, if any, presence in these markets for the reasons articulated by the CMA in the decision.”