Sports Direct has entered an agreement to buy the remaining shares of Irish department store Heatons. The sporting retailer already owns 50% of the company and is looking to buy the remaining shareholders out.
Billionaire football club owner Mike Ashley who founded Sports Direct said the company has have entered a €47.5 million sale and purchase agreement with minority shareholder Sandra Minor to purchase their shares in Heatons’ owner Warrnambool.
Sports Direct has also entered into a conditional put and call option agreement with Mark Heaton, Hugh Heaton, John O'Neill, Warrnambool and Katipo Limited over the remaining shares.
Heatons specialises in men’s, women’s and children’s clothing and homewares and has 44 stores in the Republic of Ireland and 10 in Northern Ireland, some of which have Sports Direct concessions. In addition, Warrnambool owns and operates a further five standalone "Sports Direct" branded stores in Northern Ireland.
For the year ending April 30th, Warrnambool had consolidated revenue of €219.3 million, gross assets of €158 million, EBITDA of €17.2 million and profit before tax of €10 million.
Dave Forsey, Sports Direct chief executive, said: "We look forward to accelerating investment into the existing store portfolio and strengthening the Heatons and Sports Direct brands across Ireland".
