Sports Direct International (LON:SPD) shrugged off England's World Cup failure by netting higher annual profits.
The retailer said the national team's exit from the Brazil tournament in the group stage and mild autumn weather both affected trading.
But group underlying pre-tax earnings before interest, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) in the year to April 26 still rose 15.7% to £383.2mln on a 4.7% revenue gain to £2.8bn.
Underlying profit before tax rose 20.5% to £300.3mln.
Sports Direct said it had topped its fourth and final EBITDA target under the 2011 employee share scheme.
The first of the awards will vest with members in September 2015 and the second in September 2017.
The group hit out at criticism of its use of zero-hour contracts to employ people, saying much of it was "unfounded and inaccurate".
"We comply fully with all legal requirements which relate to casual workers, including sick pay, holiday pay, and freedom to gain other employment. Casual workers also participate in general incentive schemes," it said.
Sports Direct said it had decided against proposing a dividend, saying it wanted to preserve financial flexibility.
It said trading since the end of the year had met management expectations.
Chief executive Dave Forsey said: "The group has delivered another solid set of results in spite of challenging trading."
Shares fell 12p to 722.5p.