CEO Mike Ashley extends apology for the poor response of Sports Direct on COVID-19

Sports
Direct (LON:FRAS) has recently been under severe criticism for not closing
stores in the United Kingdom to minimize the fast transmission of Coronavirus.
Following government’s orders on Monday that directed all non-essential stores
to be shut down to the public, the British retailer branded its sports equipment
as essential and announced that the stores
will continue to operate as normal.

In
a furious response on BBC TV, Minister Michael Gove immediately expressed
disapproval and highlighted that Sports Direct doesn’t meet the requirements of
“essential retail” at all.  

CEO Mike Ashley Extends Support To The National Health Service (NHS)

Mike
Ashley, however, extended a formal apology as the owner of the company on
Friday and said that he wishes to support the National Health Service (NHS)
with additional resources as a way to make amends for how poorly did Sports
Direct handled the COVID-19 situation.

Sports
Direct is a subsidiary of Frasers Group.

Ashley
said that the retailer was only seeking further information from the UK’s
government regarding the prospect of keeping a few of its outlets functional
during the lockdown. Sports Direct, Ashley added, would never intentionally
operate against the government’s orders and recommendations.

In
Ashley’s open letter on Friday, he commented:

“In
hindsight, our emails to the government were ill-judged and poorly timed, when
they clearly had much greater pressures than ours to deal with. On top of this,
our communications to our employees and the public on this was poor.

Referring
to his aid to the NHS, he said,

“We
are poised and ready for when that offer is accepted, with our entire fleet of
lorries at their disposal, to help deliver medical equipment and supplied. This
offer is not limited to the NHS but all key workforces across the government.
We will help wherever possible.”

Sports
Direct’s Performance In The Stock Market

Sports
Direct has also been under criticism recently for its measures to protect
its warehouse workers from the Coronavirus pandemic.

At
225.0 pence per share, Frasers Group is trading a little under 15% down on
Friday. The company has lost over 50% in the stock market in 2020 so far. Its
performance in 2019, on the contrary, was reported largely upbeat with an
annual gain of around 90%. The stock opened at around 240.0 pence per share in
January 2019 and closed the year sharply higher at around 460.0 pence per share
in December. Frasers Group currently has a market cap of £1.17 billion.