SPORTS Direct shares soared over 30 per cent yesterday as the retailer posted a jump in profit and said it was beginning to see the "green shoots of recovery" at House of Fraser.

Owner Mike Ashley said that he was considering introducing an employee share bonus scheme for full-time employees. "We would like to have a £100m pot," he said.

Ashley added: "We would probably like to see 50 millionaires and 500 people get £100,000 each."

He said he was considering putting such a scheme to investors at the firm's next annual general meeting.

Sports Direct's share price surged 31.2 per cent to 472.2p as the company posted a jump in profit in the first half of the year.

Sports Direct said the profit hike was driven by an increse in premium lifestyle sales due to new Flannels stores and a full-period contribution from House of Fraser.

Profits before tax increased 160 per cent to £193.4m in the 26 weeks to 27 October, with gross revenues increasing 14 per cent to £2.04bn.

Sports Direct — which will be rebranded as Frasers Group after a vote yesterday — said it was likely that more House of Fraser stores would close next year, although Ashley refused to disclose the number of branches that might be affected.

Ashley, who has come under fire from politicians in the past for working practices at his retailers, used the results as a chance to hit out at Westminster.

He described the business rates system as "broken and unworkable" and warned that some of his stores would shutter in "months, not years" if the issue was not addressed.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson promised a fundamental review of the system in his successful Conservative manifesto.

"These are people's jobs, and these are serious issues," said Ashley, calling the system "unintelligible".

"Why don't we give old Boris a call this afternoon and say 'if you can do things quickly, why can't you sort the rates out?'" he added.

(c) 2019 City A.M., source Newspaper