Sports Direct
 |
|
| Public | |
| Traded as | : |
| Industry | Retailing |
| Founded | 1982 |
| Headquarters | Shirebrook, England |
|
Key people
|
Keith Hellawell (chairman) Mike Ashley (Founder and Chief Executive) |
| Products | Sporting goods |
| Revenue | £2.832 billion (2015) |
| £295.6 million (2015) | |
| Profit | £241.4 million (2015) |
|
Number of employees
|
17,207 (2015) |
| Subsidiaries |
SportsDirect.com Slazenger Lillywhites USC Everlast Dunlop Lonsdale |
| Website | www |
Sports Direct International plc is a British retailing group. Established in 1982 by Mike Ashley, the company is the United Kingdom's largest sports-goods retailer and operates roughly 670 stores worldwide. The company owns a large number of sporting brands and trades predominantly under the SportsDirect.com brand. Other retailers owned by the company include USC and Lillywhites. The company operates under low margins.
Sporting and fashion brands owned include Donnay, Slazenger, Firetrap, Dunlop (in most markets), Everlast, Kangol, Karrimor and Lonsdale.
Mike Ashley has continued to hold a majority stake in the business, and his holding has been 61.7 percent since October 2013. It is listed on the and it is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.
The company was founded by Mike Ashley in 1982 as a single store in Maidenhead trading under the name of Mike Ashley Sports. In 1984, Preston Sports shop was opened in London and by 1992 the Company had 12 stores. 1995/96 saw the stores change to Sports Soccer along with the re-location of head office and warehouse to a 100,000 sq. foot unit in Dunstable. The number of retail stores had now increased to 50, along with the acquisition of the Donnay tennis and golf brand. Ashley incorporated the business in 1999.
By 2000, the business had 80 stores, and had formed a joint venture in Belgium, with 22 stores trading as Disport. The Lillywhites chain of 10 stores and the Lonsdale brand were acquired in 2002 and by 2003, the number of retail stores had increased to 150. In 2005 the company began a major rebrand of the stores, changing the fascias to Sports World.
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Wikipedia