Consolidation is the name of the game for Mike Ashley as he see revenues increase by 20 per cent
Mike Ashley's businesses generated nearly £3bn of revenues during the year to April 2015 latest filings at Companies House have shown.
The Newcastle United owner consolidates his business operations into MASH Holdings Ltd – a company in which he is the sole shareholder. Its financial statements were filed on 27 July 2016.
Ashley took out further lending in May 2016 in the form of an overdraft of £50m with HSBC that was guaranteed by MASH Holdings.
Ashley increased like for like revenues by nearly £450m. However profit before tax fell from £543m to £410m.
The financial statements showed that the majority owner of Sports Direct consolidated his cash and lending positions. At the end of 2014 he had £380m cash against loans outstanding of £417m – the majority of which was due to be repaid within a year. This was restructured to cash of £180m and loans of £197m.
Working capital investment increased with a £128m increase in debtors balances. The debtor balance was described in the financial statements as: “Unremitted sales receipts and collateral in respect of derivative instruments.”
Although no reconciliation is provided, in a separate note it is disclosed that the company had forward currency contracts that were valued at £92m, an increase of £88m from the previous year.
The statements acknowledge both the appointment of new manager Rafa Benitez and the relegation to the second tier of English football under post balance sheet events notes.