Blacks boss bows out in wake of Sports Direct pressure
04 August 2011 10:17
David Bernstein has resigned as chairman and as a director of outdoor retailer Blacks Leisure following considerable pressure applied by Mike Ashley's Sports Direct, which owns a 21% stake in Blacks.
At the company's AGM on July 27th Mr Bernstein, who is also chairman of the Football Association, received over 78% of proxy votes in favour of his re-appointment. However, Sports Direct voted against the re-appointment, with a company source quoted in the Sunday Times this weekend saying it was "astonished" that Mr Bernstein was still in the job.
There were also reports that Sports Direct would have sought an extraordinary general meeting to oust Mr Bernstein had he not gone voluntarily.
Ashley's business is thought to be aggrieved at the 97% reduction in the value of its stake in Blacks since 2007. The company also reported a worse than expected 9.7% drop in like-for-like sales in the 19 weeks to July 9th.
A statement from Blacks today said: "David has decided that, whilst this [78% vote] would normally be sufficient, the challenges faced by the business in such a difficult trading environment require a unified shareholder base supporting the strategy developed by the board."
It continued: "During his time with the company, David has made a considerable contribution to the business and the board would like to take this opportunity to express their gratitude and to wish him well for the future."
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