St James’ gets Sports Direct branding November 4, 2009 NEWCASTLE fans reacted with dismay yesterday after chairman Derek Llambias announced their historic stadium is to be re-branded as sportsdirect@St James’ Park. Owner Mike Ashley, who also owns the retailer Sports Direct, last week declared his intention to sell the naming rights to the club’s home of 117 years. The change will be effective for [...]
Sports Direct will fight to keep its Blacks holding October 27, 2009 Sportswear retailer Sports Direct is ready to defend its claim to a 28.5 per cent stake in outdoor goods firm Blacks Leisure, rejecting a counter claim by administrators of Kaupthing Singer & Friedlander. “Sports Direct is in the process of taking an action against Kaupthing Singer & Friedlander and its administrators, Ernst & Young,” Sports [...]
Sports Direct races ahead October 22, 2009 Mike Ashley’s budget sports retailer Sports Direct gave an up beat pre-close trading update, saying it is still confident of achieving earnings before interest, tax and depreciation of at least £150m in the current financial year. Ashley also said the board is comfortable the company could reduce its net debt to below £400m. The company, [...]
Lee: Ashley plans don’t ring true September 6, 2009 FORMER Newcastle captain Rob Lee has questioned owner Mike Ashley’s desire to sell the fallen north-east giants and accused him of deliberately stalling on the appointment of Alan Shearer as manager. Ashley put Newcastle up for sale in May after a turbulent season culminated in their relegation from the Premier League. But despite reports of [...]
Lee: Ashley plans don’t ring true September 6, 2009 FORMER Newcastle captain Rob Lee has questioned owner Mike Ashley’s desire to sell the fallen north-east giants and accused him of deliberately stalling on the appointment of Alan Shearer as manager. Ashley put Newcastle up for sale in May after a turbulent season culminated in their relegation from the Premier League. But despite reports of [...]
Probe tangles sport retail web further September 10, 2009 ALLEGATIONS of anti-competitive behaviour at JJB Sports and Sports Direct are the latest to ripple a very murky pool. In 2003, JJB – then led by founder Dave Whelan – had to cough up £6.7m in fines after Sports Direct founder Mike Ashley, the owner of Newcastle United, alerted the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) [...]
Battered JJB to carry on with cash call October 11, 2009 JJB Sports is ploughing ahead with its ambitious £100m cash call, despite calling it off on Friday following a suspected dirty tricks campaign. JJB Sports is expected this morning to hand over a dossier of emails and bank documents to City watchdog the Financial Services Authority for it to investigate what it believes is a [...]
Prudent Lee learns to leave behind netbusters and focus on net gains September 6, 2009 ROB LEE knows what financial mismanagement looks like. He witnessed the recklessness of England team-mates at the 1998 World Cup, who thought nothing of betting £5,000 a hand on card games. More recently he has seen his beloved Newcastle United relegated from the top flight while embattled owner Mike Ashley runs up personal losses of [...]
Prudent Lee learns to leave behind netbusters and focus on net gains September 6, 2009 ROB LEE knows what financial mismanagement looks like. He witnessed the recklessness of England team-mates at the 1998 World Cup, who thought nothing of betting £5,000 a hand on card games. More recently he has seen his beloved Newcastle United relegated from the top flight while embattled owner Mike Ashley runs up personal losses of [...]
Sports Direct profits climb September 9, 2009 SPORTS Direct, the sports retailer founded by Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley, yesterday upped its profit forecast for the year as it revealed encouraging trading figures for the summer period. The group, which owns the Sports World and Lillywhites chains, said gross profit for the 13 weeks to 26 July increased to £157m from £150m [...]