When Sports Direct announced the voting results at its General Meeting on 5 January this year, it looked at first as if its Chairman Keith Hellawell had been re-elected, with 81 percent of the vote. Helpfully, however, and in line with its new shareholder-friendly spirit, the company “for full transparency” also showed the votes of just the independent shareholders, excluding the majority shareholding of CEO and founder Mike Ashley. Under this calculation, Hellawell was not re-elected, as 54 percent of independent shareholders voted against him.
According to the filing announcing these results, Ashley responded to this saying: “Keith has my full backing and will be continuing in his role on the basis that he has the unanimous support of the board. I note that many of those who voted against Keith have acknowledged that we have made positive progress since the AGM.”
