Mike Ashley ‘could afford to take Sports Direct private’

Sports Direct entitled its most recent annual report Everything is Changing. Mike Ashley, who started the retail business more than 30 years ago, should heed that advice and take the company private.

Investors have been prepared to put up with the Newcastle United owner’s foibles — among them taking stakes in competitors including Tesco and Debenhams — as long as the sporting goods retailer was performing.

Now it’s not. Revenue growth has slumped.