BI will be at the AGM and reporting on what happens.
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“If I keep failing and keep failing and keep failing it will be best for everybody if I go. But I don’t want the headline “excuses”, I want the headline “sorry”.
However, the billionaire, who also owns Newcastle United FC, said that, despite speculation, he has no intention to take the company private.
In his pockets? A huge wad of red £50 notes – nearly a ideal caricature of a 1980s business tycoon.
The trade union Unite welcomed the report as “significant progress” and said it will seek to work constructively with Sports Direct over the coming months to ensure “it stays true to its promise to restore dignity and respect to the workplace”.
Having floated in 2007, the firm grew to a market valuation of 5.5 billion pounds in 2014.
This followed allegations uncovered by the Guardian that agency workers at the logistics depot were being paid below the national minimum wage, due to mandatory security checks.
Sports Direct’s response to criticisms includes giving directly-employed staff the option of a permanent contract instead of being on controversial zero-hours deals.
Confirmation that the company had failed to do enough for some investors came initially from Standard Life Investments – its second-largest shareholder.
There had been reports that Sports Direct had since refunded these workers £1m in underpayments.
Institute of Directors head of corporate governance Oliver Parry said: “From what we have seen in the past two years, the corporate governance standards have fallen way below what we would expect from a listed company”.
Several other investors, including Legal & General, had said they would oppose the re-election of Hellawell.
Facing the press, Hellawell said: “My position is not untenable”.
Lawmakers in July said the company treated workers at Shirebrook “as commodities rather than human beings”, with working practices closer to “that of a Victorian warehouse than that of a modern high street retailer”.
Sports Direct shareholders have delivered a bloody nose to Mike Ashley after they rejected the reappointment of its chairman to the board.
He said: “I think I am going to prove that I am competent”.
‘I have confirmed today that should I not receive the support of a majority of our independent shareholders at next year’s AGM, I will step down at that time with immediate effect’. He also said the firm was seeking to beef-up its board with new independent non-executive directors.
The report said Mr Ashley, who was hauled before MPs over conditions at the warehouse, “takes ultimate responsibility for any aspects of the working practices that were unsatisfactory”.
Sports Direct shares fell 10 percent in early London trading, extending a 56 percent drop in the past year.
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The firm reiterated that it remained unhedged on the U.S. dollar/pound sterling for 2017 with the policy under review.
