Mike Ashley, the founder and deputy chairman of Sports Direct, has admitted for the first time that the company must improve its working conditions ahead of a grilling by a committee of MPs on Tuesday.
In a letter to the company’s 27,000 staff, Ashley admitted that there had been issues with search and security at the company’s main warehouse in Derbyshire.
Ashley will face questions from MPs over allegations that staff were subject to unpaid searches for up to 15 minutes which could have dropped their wages below the statutory minimum.
Dave Forsey, Sports Direct chief executive, would not get his £4 million bonus in what had been a “difficult year” for the company, Ashley said in a letter seen by the Telegraph. Sports Direct shares have lost as much as 45 per cent of their value, plummeting out of the FTSE 100 biggest companies in the UK.
Ashley said he had decided to appear before MPs in a last minute decision over the weekend “because I have always believed that we have nothing to hide”.
He had previously refused to appear, saying that his lawyer was not available.
Iain Wright MP, who chairs the Business Innovation and Skills Committee, had threatened to have him found in contempt of parliament.
To confirm his attendance, Mr Ashley wrote a letter to Mr Wright headed “NOTHING TO HIDE” in capital letters.
Ashley will be questioned by MPs at 11am on Tuesday June 7, alongside members of Unite the union and the finance director of Transline, the recruitment agency which provided workers to the company.
