SPORTS Direct International yesterday unveiled a cut-price deal to restore its holding in Wilson rackets firm Amer Sports Corporation.

The Sports World retailer has paid £36m for a 4.96 per cent stake in Amer, just two months after netting £116.2m from the sale of Amer shares.

Sports Direct - which is majority owned by Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley - said Helsinki- based Amer met its criteria for strategic investments.

Amer's other brands include winter sports Salomon and Atomic, fitness equipment business Precor and diving instruments specialist Suunto.

Sports Direct paid approximately 13.5 euros a share for its stake in Amer, compared with the 19 euros a share involved in the November transaction.

The group said: The board's objective is to create value for the company's shareholders via such strategic investment.'' Sports Direct, which has more than 400 stores in the UK, held 29.9 per cent of Umbro shares until it sold two-thirds of the stake to Nike for £56.1m last month. It also agreed to back Nike's offer for the kit firm with its remaining ten per cent stake.

The company has not disclosed the profit it made on the Umbro shares.

Earlier this week, Sports Direct said it would meet profit forecasts despite increasingly difficult'' trading this year.

The group has been badly hit by England's failure to reach the Euro 2008 football championships, but said underlying earnings for the year to April would exceed the £137.7m.