In quotes: Mike Ashley on Debenhams debacle, Wild West practices and clueless Corbyn

Mike Ashley on… the Debenhams debacle

“I noted in detail within my report in our FY19 full-year results the extent of the outrageous wiping out of the shareholders of Debenhams. We named this Project Serpico within the Sports Direct Group at the time as everyone, directly and indirectly, involved should not be afraid of the truth…

“We have noted the parliamentary select committee’s speed with dealing with high profile corporate failures such as Thomas Cook but a seeming reticence to deal with the likes of the Debenhams debacle…

“I have no doubt whatsoever that if the Sports Direct Group had been part of the cabal to wipe out the shareholders of Debenhams, as we were invited to be by Silverpoint the main hedge fund in this plan, I would have been sitting in front of Rachel Reeves MP and her Select Committee before you could say the words ‘grand larceny’.”

Mike Ashley on… Debenhams directors

“We want to especially highlight David Adams who, in his role as audit committee chairman, should take a huge responsibility for the incredibly optimistic and aggressive accounting, which allowed them to carry on paying dividends despite their balance sheet not being worth the paper it was printed on.

“We noted recently that Halfords Group had a £12m accounting scandal of their own and who was audit committee chair? One David Adams. This adds to his glittering CV, which also includes him being chairman of Conviviality during its downfall.

“How the likes of Mr Adams and others such as him can be continually rewarded for failure by ever more listed board appointments is something that on its own should be investigated.

“I think this is a microcosm of how the whole system is dishonest because I understand why Mr Adams would choose not to kick up a fuss and demand appropriate conservative accounting was carried out – this would ensure his pipeline of future appointments dries up and he is clearly not alone, it’s currently regrettably normal.”

Mike Ashley on… the Wild West world of advisers

”We fundamentally do not believe that the majority of advisors, particularly in the distressed and restructuring space, are in any way regulated appropriately. We will continue to flag this as a major issue and hope that it becomes apparent to politicians that the appropriate regulators must be furnished with the power to tackle what has become the Wild West in terms of deceit, dishonesty and self-interest as they seek to generate significant fees, and generally not work in the best interests of their clients and other relevant stakeholders.”

Mike Ashley on… House of Fraser being ‘dead, finished, destroyed’

“An awful lot of work has been done by many people of all levels to bring what was – due to the deliberate incompetence of previous management and ownership – an unmitigated disaster into a functioning state…

“A lot has been made about my comments regarding the ‘terminal’ nature of House of Fraser’s problems. For absolute clarity, as shown by the fact House of Fraser went into administration and indeed was mere hours from liquidation such was its parlous state, the business was dead, finished, destroyed.

“It was, and it is only through the incredible efforts of those within the Sports Direct Group, including the remaining House of Fraser teams, that we are tackling these problems and trying to build a business with a future, a future for Frasers that is hopefully ‘bright’.”

Mike Ashley on… aggressive accounting

“We have discussed with the Financial Reporting Council our view that audit committee chairs should be able to give a view on the judgements and estimates in a set of accounts, whereby they grade the accounts between one and five, with one being very aggressive, two being aggressive, three being normal, four being conservative and five being very conservative.

“If this kind of narrative was included in the accounts of the likes of Debenhams for instance, it may have made the board think twice about paying dividends when clearly their accounts would or should have been graded a one.”

Mike Ashley on… business rates killing the high street

“The current business rates regime is clearly helping to kill much of what remains of the UK high street. A large number of retailers including ourselves have been trying to bring this to the government’s attention and finally, it looks like it is getting some focus, I really hope it is not too late already and would urge parliamentarians to expedite reform before it really does become too late…

“There are House of Fraser stores paying no rent but still losing money. A correction to the business rates would dramatically change the situation insofar as we could see light at the end of the tunnel and this could help save stores.”

Mike Ashley on… ‘clueless’ Jeremy Corbyn

“Mr Corbyn attacked our business during the election campaign, but he really should have checked his facts as he really was shown to be clueless.

“He clearly has zero awareness of the fact we are one of the very few groups, and also one of the first, to have a worker’s representative as a statutory director of the group. And I can assure Mr Corbyn it is not a token appointment.

“We don’t agree with much that Jeremy Corbyn says, however, on this point regarding appointing workers representatives to the board, we wholeheartedly agree and indeed would strongly encourage other businesses large and small to appoint them.”