Sports Direct exits MySale stake in latest bad investment for Mike Ashley

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
May 21, 2019

Mike Ashley-led Sports Direct International has exited its stake in Australian online retailer MySale Group, a filing showed on Monday.

The move will be a disappointment for Ashley with MySale shares at a low compared to the price paid.

Sports Direct has spent several years making strategic acquisitions in smaller players in the sector, as well as big names. This has concerned some shareholders in the firm with its almost-30% stake in Debenhams, for instance, having been wiped out after an outlay of tens of millions of pounds.

It’s unclear exactly how much it paid for its 4.8% MySale stake but it would have acquired the shares when they were trading at a much higher price than Monday’s closing price. They actually started trading on the London Stock Exchange almost five years ago at 229p, which means the stake would have been worth around £15 million. But they closed Monday at a paltry 7p after a series of disappointing sets of results and updates.

Sports Direct had been MySale's fourth largest shareholder at one point and it didn’t say how much it raised with the share sale.