Sports chain founder waits for reward as staff cash in

The company said it would look for other ways to reward him for its rapid growth.

Mr Ashley, who founded the company in 1982, has not taken a salary since Sports Direct floated in 2007, during which time its share price has doubled.

He has also provided significant free advertising for it through his ownership of English Premier League football club Newcastle United.

The firm, which announced a 40 per cent surge in annual profits yesterday, first proposed a share bonus for Mr Ashley 18 months ago, but was knocked back by shareholders on the grounds that the attached performance targets were too limited.

Its second proposal, announced in December, increased both targets and the number of shares.

Sports Direct’s chief executive Dave Forsey said it was now too late to put this proposal to shareholders and that it would instead explore alternatives. He gave no details about why the plan had not been put to shareholders before now.

“We are obviously very keen to look at how we can reward Mike because he’s absolutely making a massive difference to our business,” Mr Forsey said.

By contrast, the firm said having hit its financial targets, it would hand shares worth around £130m to some 2,000 of its 24,000 staff, including full-time shop assistants.

Under the firm’s bonus scheme started in 2009, the average employee earning £20,000 who has been with the firm at least five years will receive 12,000 Sports Direct shares worth around £75,000 at the current share price.

The company said staff were on track for another payout in 2015 through another scheme.

Sports Direct posted an underlying pretax profit for the year to April 28 of £208.1m, up 40 per cent on the year before, thanks to higher margins and business boosted by a sporting backdrop of the European Football Championships and London Olympics.

The group added that first quarter trading had started ahead of management expectations, but cautioned that an absence of major sporting events this year would make it hard to sustain that level of performance.

Shares in the firm, which owns Sports World and Lillywhites stores as well as brands like Slazenger and Dunlop, hit an all-time high in early trading.

Sports Direct now operates in 19 countries in Europe, including Belgium, Slovenia, Portugal and France. It expanded its fashion brands with the acquisition of UK retailer Republic from administration.