Sports Direct founder and maligned Newcastle United supremo Mike Ashley decided to forego his involvement in an employee share scheme, which would have seen him pouch a pay out of several tens of millions, as part of the wider strategy of rewarding the company’s 3,000 permanent staff with close to £200m in shares should earnings double by 2019.

The scheme has been met with resistance by key shareholders for several reasons.

Concerns over the magnitude of the overall bonus award were compounded by the potential windfall for Mr Ashley not being reflective of the usual level for a senior executive. Finally, it remains unclear exactly how it would have been split between Mr Ashley and the rest of the staff.

Some shareholders would cite the seemingly opaque structure of this bonus scheme as symptomatic of weak corporate governance at the company.

Looking at the company through an investment lens, Sports Direct represents around one quarter of the UK sports retail market, its scale bringing efficiency in procurement and logistics which are key advantages to add to the company’s success both online and in-store.

However, the temptation of buying into a stock with five consecutive years of revenue, operating profit and earnings per share growth must be tempered by the potential for lower future growth given the levels already achieved, and that investors would be paying a heavy premium for the shares at current levels.

As a prime example of a growth share, if the company were to miss earnings expectations in the future, the market would mete out a heavy punishment.

Nick Williams is an assistant director at Brewin Dolphin, offering advice on a range of financial services to private clients, trusts, charities and pension funds.

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