Sports Direct share price: Former staff at USC subsidiary go to tribunal

Former staff at Sport Direct’s (LON:SPD) fashion chain USC are taking the administrators who oversaw its collapse to an employment tribunal. Lawyers for around 50 ex-workers will argue that the sporting goods retailer and joint administrators Duff & Phelps and Gallaghers should have consulted with them at least 30 days prior to the closure of the USC’s Dundonald warehouse, instead of just 15 minutes before shutting the site.

The Independent reports that the notice was filed on Tuesday at Glasgow’s Employment Tribunal and is due to be heard in the next few months. Former workers are demanding 13 weeks’ compensation pay, but are expected to receive just around eight weeks’ worth.
The revelation is the latest twist in the USC’s collapse saga, where Sports Direct, controlled by the company’s founder and majority shareholder Mike Ashley, put the business into administration only to buy it back debt-free. The case has been the subject of an inquiry by the Scottish Affairs Select Committee, which questioned Philip Duffy from Duff & Phelps and Sport’s Direct’s chairman, Keith Hellawell, after Ashley refused to attend the hearing – a decision highly-criticised by MPs.
The debacle has also affected Sports Direct’s share price, with investor sentiment diminishing amid growing governance worries. Late last month, the Institute of Directors (IoD), an influential organisation made up of 34,500 British businesses, branded the retailer’s board as “dysfunctional” and warned that there were not sufficient checks on Ashley’s powers.
Sports Direct’s share price has been on the up so far today. As of 10:39 BST, the stock was changing hands at 635.00p – 1.20 percent up intraday. The retailer has seen its shares’ value decline by more than 10 percent since the beginning of the year.
As of 11:05 BST, Thursday, 09 April, Sports Direct International Plc share price is 634.75p.