// Sports Direct shares fall 10% after auditor Grant Thornton quits
// Sports Direct has asked the government what the next steps are if it cannot draft in a new firm
// Grant Thornton’s resignation will come into effect from September 11
Sports Direct has revealed its shares have fallen by 10 per cent after auditor Grant Thornton quit from its decade-long role.
The sports goods retailer has asked the government what the next steps are if it cannot draft in a new firm, the Financial Times reported.
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The accountancy firm quit its role as auditor to Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct weeks after the retailer announced its delayed annual results, which also follows the retailer’s initiative in purchasing fashion retailer Jack Wills via a pre-pack administration deal.
Grant Thornton’s resignation will come into effect from September 11.
Sports Direct revealed in the results that it was facing a tax demand of more than £600 million from Belgian authorities and also revealed that department store chain House of Fraser’s problems were “terminal”.
Sports Direct said at the time of its delayed results in July that it had held “early discussions” with Grant Thornton’s larger rivals, but that these had “thrown up some barriers”.
Moreover, despite the auditor’s resignation, one of Ashley’s key lieutenants Michael Murray, told Sky News last week that Sports Direct was “definitely not a business in crisis”.
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