Just as Sports Direct International (SDI) publicized a sharp decline in profits caused primarily by its investment in Debenhams (see full coverage in this issue), the company's chief executive and majority shareholder lashed out at the department store group in The Telegraph, saying that he would be “smashing into [Debenhams]” at some point “over why they cannot follow anything that Sports Direct suggests.” Among the suggestions, he recommended charging customers for click and collect services – not unlike Sports Direct, which charges customers £5 if they opt for click and collect and then offers them a £5 voucher if they pick up their purchase in the store. In March, SDI raised its holding in Debenhams to 29.7 percent, just below the level at which it would have to bid for the entire company. Ashley also read out an unusual statement during a presentation at the stock exchange last week, about SDI's influence at two other companies in which it owns sizeable stakes, Game Digital and Findel. Ashley said they considered SDI as having significant influence over them by virtue of signaling SDI as a related party in their accounts. But he added that he did not believe SDI to have significant influence over them, and did not believe they applied the retail group's principles of being conservative, consistent and simple. The purpose of this statement could not be clarified at the time of writing.

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