Matt Pearson has started as acting chief financial officer and joined the board of Sports Direct International (SDI) earlier this month. Pearson joined the leading British sports retailer and wholesaler as group financial accountant from EY (formerly Ernst & Young) in June 2007 and was later appointed group financial controller. The company had been without a permanent finance chief since the end of 2013, when Bob Mellors left the company after many years due to ill health. His job was filled temporarily by Jeff Blue, strategic development director, until he left the company in March also. The company's chairman, Keith Hellawell, said in a statement that Pearson would assume the added responsibilities on an interim basis. The Daily Telegraph reported that the absence of a finance chief was among the concerns outlined by some investors earlier this year about governance at SDI, along with the absence of an investor relations director and share sales by the group's founder, Mike Ashley, which allegedly contravened lock-up agreements. Hellawell said that Pearson had been appointed after sounding out leading institutions.

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