Increased importance for online sales
Its record-setting results were mainly because of its British stores, the Austrian purchases (EAG), the Baltic region (SIG) and its excellent online sales (which grew 26.8 %). Web sales have now taken up 17.1 % of the company’s full sales.
A conflict with one of its main suppliers, Adidas, has put Sports Direct in the spotlights over these past few weeks, as Adidas refused to supply shirts for its team at the World Championship Football (like Germany, Spain, Argentina and Colombia) “as [Sports Direct] did not present the products decently”. The conflict has been resolved by now and a solution has been reached.
Profits go to purchases and personnel
Another difficult issue this past year was the approval of a personnel bonus package as Sports Direct wants to let management in on the profits if certain targets have been reached. Its new plan goes until 2019 and is worth 200 million pounds (or 253 million euro). Chairman Mike Ashley, who owns some 60 % of the chain, has already waived his own part in the bonus package.
Shareholders will not be getting a dividend as the chain wants to use the profit for possible purchases. The chain is already active in 191 countries (among them Belgium and France), but it still relies heavily on the United Kingdom, with more than 400 of its 600 stores located there.
