Sportswear retailer Sports Direct has celebrated a “record year of out-performance” in pre-tax profits rose 15% and total group sales also rose 23.8% to £2.7 billion, from £2.1 billion a year earlier. Meanwhile, like-for-like sales were 10.5% higher.

Dave Forsey, chief executive, said: "We have delivered another record year of out-performance especially within our Sports Retail division. This success is underpinned by our core strategy, offering our customers a wide range of products which represent exceptional quality and unbeatable value.

Through both individual hard work and operating as a team, against a particularly tough comparative which included the UEFA European Championships and the 2012 London Olympics, we have significantly out-performed the third underlying EBITDA target of £260m set under the 2011 Employee Bonus Share Scheme. This means that the Group has now successfully met the first three targets and the Board is very confident of achieving the final target of £300m under the 2011 Employee Bonus Share Scheme.

"Overall trading since the year end has been in line with management's expectations with some stronger weeks offset by England's disappointing World Cup matches. Consistent with previous guidance, we continue to target underlying EBITDA (before share scheme costs) of £360m for the current period."