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Ashley’s empire enjoys decent World Cup

THE sports retail empire controlled by Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley has enjoyed a 17.8% jump in profit on the back of a surprisingly good World Cup despite England’s dismal performances.

Sports Direct, which sells the England football strip as one of its flagship products, today said group sales for the 13 weeks ending 25 July were up 8.8% to £408m as gross profit increased 17.8% to £185m.

During the period, the group opened eight stores new UK stores, closed two and opened at a site in Cyprus.

Chief executive Dave Fossey said: “Despite the performance of the England team during the World Cup, these results clearly show that Sports Direct had a good World Cup, although with better team results it could have been even stronger.

“Since the end of July, the Group’s underlying performance has remained strong and in line with management’s expectations, with the Group’s debt reduction programme continuing to perform well.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .