Sports Direct spends £40m on corporate jet amid alarming dive in profits

The plane joins other assets including a helicopter founder Mike Ashley uses to commute to the retailer’s Derbyshire headquarters

Sports Direct said the aircraft, costing $51.1m will 'generate substantial operational benefits' (Reuters)

Scandal-hit Sports Direct has splashed out $51.1m (£40m) on the acquisition of a corporate jet despite reporting its profits halved.

The retailer said it would take delivery of a new corporate jet in the coming weeks "to facilitate efficiencies relating to the use of management time and the pursuit of the group's strategic priorities".

The plane joins other assets including a helicopter Mike Ashley uses to commute to the retailer’s Derbyshire headquarters, a fleet of vehicles, a Best Western hotel and several houses in and around Shirebrook.

George Salmon, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "In addition to a new plane to go with the corporate helicopter, Mike Ashley is spending £300 million on the group's store estate.”

"He's also moving the focus away from discounts and towards higher quality promotion of desirable brands, evidenced by new deals with Nike and Adidas. Success here could change things, but for now conditions remain challenging and profits have again been revised downwards."

Sports Direct, reeling from a year-long scandal over working practices, said on Thursday underlying profit before tax slumped by 57 per cent to £71.6m from £166.4m in the six months to 23 October.

Keith Hellawell, the chairman of Sports Direct who survived a vote to remain in the post at the company's AGM in September, launched an attacks on critics of the retailer.

He claimed that an 'extreme campaign against' the business damaged the morale of staff and influenced customers.

He said: “I have no doubt that the extreme political, union and media campaign waged against this company has not only damaged its reputation and influenced our customers, it has impacted negatively on the morale of our people.

“I begin to question whether this intense scrutiny is all ethically motivated.”

The company and its majority owner, Mike Ashley, have been under scrutiny due to the working conditions at its Shirebrook warehouse, including using agency staff who were employed on zero hour contracts.

In its first results since billionaire Mr Ashley took over as chief executive from Dave Forsey, he said: "The significant events over the last year have been tough on our people and morale - our people are our number one priority over the long term."

"Our UK Sports Retail business continues to be the engine of Sports Direct, but our results have been affected by the significant deterioration in exchange rates, and our assessment of our risk relating to our stock levels and European stores performance," Mr Ashley added.

Sports Direct said it was continuing in its efforts to become the "Selfridges" of sports retail.