Billionaire Mike Ashley adds £100m to fortune as Sports Direct shares rise after election
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Version 0 of 1. The billionaire owner of Sports Direct, Mike Ashley, has seen his fortune increase by almost £100m as a result of the General Election result. Shares in the sportswear retailer jumped 4.5 per cent at the news that Ed Miliband, who had promised to ban zero-hours contracts, would not become the next prime minister – adding £95m to the founder’s share value. Sports Directs employs 15,000 of its roughly 23,000 staff on zero-hours contracts, which Mr Miliband said had become an “epidemic” under the previous Coalition government. The former Labour leader wanted to see workers given the right to a regular contract after working for 12 successive weeks. Despite David Cameron admitting he could not live on a zero-hours contracts, the Conservatives have no plans to limit their use. Nearly 90 per cent of Sports Direct’s staff are on zero-hours contracts (PA) Mr Ashley, who also own Newcastle football club, is the UK’s 22nd richest man, according to the Sunday Times Rich List, worth an estimated £3.5bn. The share price rise is also related to the £44m sale of the company’s head offices in central London to the University of Westminster. After a Dispatches investigation into the use of zero-hours contracts at Sports Direct, Steve Turner, assistant secretary at Unite, branded the way the company's practices “a throwback to the Victorian era”. “Mike Ashley and Sport Direct’s shameful business model, which is built on low pay and exploitative zero hours contracts, where workers are treated with contempt, has no place on the high streets of 21st century Britain," Turner added. It has been estimated that Sports Direct accounts for a fifth of all zero-hours contracts in the retail sector. |