Mike Ashley’s frenetic deal-making shows no sign of letting up. On Monday his Sports Direct empire revealed it has made a £4 million bid for Goals Soccer Centres, the troubled five-a-side football operator.
Goals shares have been suspended at 27p since March while investigations into its tax affairs are completed.
The company owes £12 million to HMRC and says it has found “improper behaviour” dating back to 2010. Former chief executive Keith Rogers is among those being probed.
Today Sports Direct said it had made a 5p-a-share bid for Goals, which has around 50 five-a-side centres, four of which are in Los Angeles.
Ashley owns 62% of Sports Direct, which in turn owns 19% of Goals. This bid is merely the latest from the retail entrepreneur, who has lately bought Sofa.com, Jack Wills, Evans Cycles, House of Fraser and Flannels. He has stakes in numerous other retailers including French Connection.
Goals said the offer is “under consideration”.
The views of Harwood Capital, which also has about 20% of the stock, will be key. The low-ball bid compares with a stock market value of £20.5 million when Goals’ shares were suspended.
The company formally began inviting bids at the end of last month. Its AIM trading facility will cancelled at the end of September.
Sports Direct said such a move would leave shareholders without a vote on any sale. It said: “Sports Direct believes that due to Goals’ well-publicised difficulties, the board of Goals is not committed to maintaining Goals’ trading facility.” Sports Direct tried to oust the entire Goals board back in June, a move which failed.
Last week Ashley saw an attempt to block Debenhams from claiming insolvency also flopped. A legal challenge to Debenhams’ company voluntary agreement (CVA) was overruled by the High Court.
Ashley is estimated to have lost at least £500 million from investing in the shares of other retailers.
Sports Direct is itself without an auditor since Grant Thornton resigned.
A large number of investors voted against Ashley’s reappointment as a director at the annual meeting earlier this month.
