Mike Ashley's holding company doubles pre-tax profits

Δημοσιεύθηκε: 14 Απριλίου 2015 - 19:29

Billionaire Mike Ashley made more than £500m last year as the sale of shares in Sports Direct more than doubled pre-tax profits at his personal holding company.

Mash Holdings Limited, through which Mr Ashley holds stakes in Sports Direct and Newcastle United, the football club, reported £542m in pre-tax profits for the year to April 30 2014, according to accounts filed at Companies House.

This figure, boosted by £283m worth of profit on the disposal of shares in Sports Direct in two separate sales, was up 111 per cent on the previous period.

As well as selling 40m shares in the year in question, Mash Holdings, which is wholly owned by Mr Ashley, also gifted 303m shares - 50 per cent of the total - in January 2015 to Mash Beta Ltd, a subsidiary of Mash Holdings. Through these two companies, Mr Ashley has a 55 per cent stake in Sports Direct.

Mash Holdings' group revenue rose 23.4 per cent to £2.8bn in the 12 months, with strong retail sales growth at Sports Direct accounting for the majority of the increase.

The figures cap a turbulent year for Mr Ashley, who lost a tussle for control of Scottish football club Rangers and whose Sports Direct chain has been criticised by politicians for employing the majority of its staff on zero-hours contracts.

Last month, MPs on the Scottish Affairs Committee branded Sports Direct "a backstreet outfit" as they grilled the company's chairman about withheld rent and supplier payments before the collapse into administration of the company's USC fashion chain, which was subsequently sold to another Sports Direct subsidiary.

A spokesperson for Mr Ashley could not be reached for comment.

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