There was speculation in the wake of the report that majority shareholder and founder Mike Ashley could launch a bid to take the company private and the quashing of this rumour explains some of the share price fall.
Advertisement
He added that workers could not rely on “bad publicity” to stamp out every instance of employers mistreating their staff and called for a ban on zero-hours contracts.
RPMI Railpen, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS), the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS), and the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (OTPP) have all confirmed they voted against non-executive directors at the AGM on 7 September.
Royal London Asset Management, which owns a 0.18% stake in Sports Direct, said that while the reforms are an improvement, they set “the bar quite low”, adding that Mr Hellawell’s position was “untenable”.
He said: “It is a serious decision not to support an entire board”.
Sports Direct majority shareholder Ashley also said he would put a workers’ representative on its board in a bid to appease staff.
I thought from an integrity point of view it was right to offer my resignation because clearly there’s a lot of negativity about me and my ability to run this company.
Last month a sports direct megastore and everlast gym opened on Tulketh Street in Southport.
He has also pledged to ban zero hours contracts at the company.
One of Europe’s largest fund managers has demanded change at Sports Direct (LON:SPD) and called Britain’s biggest sportswear retailer’s turnaround proposals inadequate.
Euan Stirling, head of stewardship and environmental, social and governance investment at Standard Life Investments, told the AGM that structural change was now required – with Mr Ashley taking on a greater role.
The meeting also saw independent shareholders vent their anger at chairman, Dr Keith Hellawell, with 53 per cent voting against his re-appointment. But exchanges became testy as shareholders fired barbs at the company’s board. The responses to our inquiries have been either unconvincing or non-existent.
Sports Direct has commissioned a second review of working practices to monitor progress of the implementation of commitments outlined in the report.
During a tour of the company’s Shirebrook warehouse, Mr Ashley said he did not “knowingly” or “deliberately” run the operation badly, adding that the firm’s rapid growth and the sheer scale of the business had made it hard to get it right. We are voting against the non-executive directors yet again to express our frustration that governance has not improved.
Advertisement
Recent revelations that an obscure company controlled by Ashley’s brother is employed to handle Sports Direct’s overseas deliveries have served to heighten governance concerns at the group.
