Shares tumble after Ashley’s ‘own goal’

Sports Direct billionaire owner Mike Ashely has claimed that the scrutiny of his company’s practices are damaging its sales at the expense of profit.

Shares had already more than halved since August but yesterday tumbled by more than 10 per cent after Ashley’s comments.

The shares fell again today (Wednesday 23) after Ashely issued a profit warning to the London Stock Exchange, dropping by more than 4 per cent to 310p by late morning.

“Mike Ashley has nobody to blame for this situation but himself, not MPs and certainly not Unite for exposing the realities of working for his company,” said Unite assistant general secretary Steve Turner.

“He has ignored all the warnings that consumers and investors walk away from companies which fail to tackle abuses in their supply chain and do not treat workers properly,” added Steve.

Shoppers are feeling uncomfortable with retail staff on zero hours, minimum wage contracts.

“No wonder suppliers are thinking twice about putting premium brands on his shelves. This is what is taking its toll on the share price,” said Steve.

Unite has offered to meet Mike Ashley wherever, whenever to address worker concerns and the abuses at his Shirebrook warehouses as well as in-store.

“The opportunity is there for him to end completely unnecessary zero hours abuses in-store and the use of agency labour in his Shirebrook warehouse,” added Steve.

Over 3,000 agency workers are employed by Sports Direct at Shirebrook through Transline and The Best Connection.

“Ending ‘Victorian’ work practices would re-establish market confidence in the retailer’s corporate governance, give hope to a dedicated, undervalued workforce – and, crucially, could go a long way to restore customer faith in his products and calm MPs’ fears that something is well and truly amiss at his business,” said Steve.

“But if he carries on bulldozing his way to permanently bad PR, customers will vote with their feet. He is putting workers’ jobs, as well as investors’ capital at risk by refusing to cooperate with those who simply want a fair deal for working people,” he added.