Sports Direct blames bad publicity amid 15% fall in profit

British retailer Sports Direct posted a worse-than-expected 15 per cent drop in annual profit on Thursday, blaming tough conditions on the high street and negative publicity about its working practices.

The company, which is not paying a dividend, said current political uncertainty after Britain voted to leave the European Union last month was likely to act as a continuing drag on consumer confidence.

“When combined with the structural difficulties for UK retailers, including high street footfall, and our exposure to the weakness of the pound against the US dollar, these factors make the current outlook for FY17 somewhat uncertain and therefore hard to predict,” the company said in a statement.

Sports Direct reported pretax profit for the year to April 24th of £361.8 million, missing its guidance of £380 million, on revenue up 2.5 per cent at £2.9 billion.

Reuters