Sports Direct International Plc (LON:SPD) has been forced to issue a trading update clarifying comments from its founder Mike Ashley that yesterday knocked over £200mln off its value.
In an interview with the Times Ashley had conceded that the sportswear firm was ‘in trouble’.
In today’s statement investors were told that underlying profits [EBITDA] would be “at or around the bottom of the range” of £380mln to £420mln indicated when it issued a profit warning in January.
"We can't make the same profit we made last year,” founder Mike Ashley said in the Times interview.
In the year to April 2015, Sports Direct made underlying profits of £383mln.
The group’s stock market value has more than halved over the past eight months as the retailer has been beset by a torrent of bad press focused on its working practices.
Ashley has consistently refused to appear before MPs to explain how it operates, instead offering a guided tour of his head office in Derbyshire.
House of Commons speaker John Bercow is currently assessing whether Ashley can be held in contempt of parliament.
Yesterday, Ashley, also the owner of Newcastle United, appeared to disown the club after he told the Daily Mirror that he regretted getting into football.
Shares today were down 2.4% at 370.1p.