Sports Direct International is proposing to grant a special conditional option on eight million ordinary shares, worth a total of £65.8 million (€79.6m-$109.7m) to its founder and major shareholder, Mike Ashley, in recognition of its success. Ashley already owns 62 percent of the shares. The award would be granted to him only in July four years from now if the company reaches certain financial targets, including operating earnings before amortization (Ebitda) of £330 million (€398.4m-$549.5m) in 2014 and £410 million next year, by which time the net debt/Ebitda ratio would stand at 1.5 or less. Sports Direct's largest institutional shareholder, Odey Asset Management, was said to be in favor of this resolution, which is due to be approved next Friday, without Ashley's participation in the vote. Unlike the employees of Sports Direct, Ashley gets no performance bonuses and no salary since the company's flotation in 2007, but a similar proposal has been rejected by the majority of the other shareholders twice before.

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