Terry Murden: Ashley proves the doomsters of the City wrong again

WHEN Mike Ashley first announced he was taking his Sports World and Sports Soccer chains to the stock market he was a reluctant public figure who refused to play by the rules.

The City didn't take kindly to a man who, within the space of a few months, was accused of damaging his company's credibility. Sports Direct's flotation price had halved and Ashley was forced to issue a second profits warning. No wonder the knives were out. A defiant Ashley accused "City people" of "behaving like cry babies" and said he couldn't think of many safer long-term investments.

Well, four years on from those comments the share price is not quite reflecting his sentiment, but it is heading in the right direction. After plunging to a low of 32p in November 2008 they're back above 250p, against a 300p flotation price.

Sports Direct's latest set of figures (which include all the relevant numbers compared to the early statements) show it has hit its profit target for the second year in a row and is able to make a record pay-out to staff in the retail sector equal to twice the average salary of 20,000.

What makes the Sports Direct performance all the more surprising is that it comes against a continuing back story of poor trading and under performance in the high street.

Nor has Ashley rested on his laurels. After mopping up the bottom end of the market, he's been buying up stakes in Scots tycoon Sir Tom Hunter's USC and Cruise businesses, taking his business interests a little more upmarket. He's now got his sights on JD sports which has already got the better of the struggling JJB Sports.

Ashley has endured a similarly erratic relationship with Newcastle United, which he owns. The long-suffering Toon Army, like Sports Direct's shareholders, will be hoping for a similar upturn in fortunes.

To lose one chairman is acceptable, to lose three...

THE revolving doors at Mitchells & Butlers are beginning to worry investors who must be disenchanted with the constant need for updates on who is running the pub chain.

Simon Burke is the third chairman to resign in the last 18 months, while Michael Balfour, another non-executive director, has also stepped down.

Burke's departure follows the exit of Simon Laffin in January 2010 and John Lovering in February this year.

Bob Ivell, a former S&N retail MD comes in as a stop-gap chairman, and Ron Robson, a representative of Bahamas-based investor Joe Lewis, becomes non-exec deputy chairman. Ivell is described as a real industry pro who's career path includes Beefeater and Regent Inns.

He is expected to bring his experience to operations and strategic planning but questions are being asked about his ability to cope with what seems to be a lot of pressure from Lewis's Piedmont vehicle and from other major shareholder Elpida run by the racehorse tycoons JP McManus and John Magnier.

The company owns a number of well-known watering holes in Scotland but despite all this boardroom shuffling it is still without a permanent chief executive since Adam Fowle left in March.Shareholder rebels raking over Angela's ashes

THE list of company bosses facing the wrath of shareholders over excessive pay rewards grows by the day. Burberry chief executive Angela Ahrendts is the latest to feel the heat. Shareholders controlling more than 10 per cent of the luxury fashion house did not back the company's executive pay policies, which included a share package for the CEO worth nearly 5.8 million, or almost six times her salary.

It's gratifying therefore to see Sir Brian Souter once again donate a large chunk of his bonus towards a heart screening programme for his Stagecoach staff.

Handing over 250,000 won't exactly squeeze the newly-knighted transport boss's lifestyle (and he does share a 13m dividend with his sister), but in a world exasperated by greed it shows there are some bosses who have other priorities.