Up-to-date coverage of the latest events in UK retail.

A third of Sports Direct investors vote against Ashley’s re-election

Nearly a third of independent investors have voted against Mike Ashley’s reappointment as chief executive of Sports Direct.

Ashley controls 62% of the retailer but 31% of other shareholders cast their votes against him at yesterday’s AGM.

The vote came as Sports Direct admitted it no longer has an auditor after the incumbent Grant Thornton resigned. The retailer has so far been unable to persuade any other auditor to take on the job.

Under the Companies Act, Sports Direct must now formally notify business secretary Andrea Leadsom within a week that it has no auditor. If it does not do so it will face a fine. Leadsom has the power to appoint an auditor if Sports Direct’s efforts fail.

More than 100,000 retail jobs lost to automation

108,000 retail jobs have been lost to automation between 2011 and 2018.

Women made up around 70% of the job losses - 75,000 of the 108,000 – as customer service roles were culled, according to a new report by the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce,.

The North East and East Midlands was the hardest hit regions. Both suffered an 11% drop in the retail workforce.

However, the report said retail’s future was “not all gloomy” and the high street could be saved if retailers moved towards the responsible adoption of new technologies, retraining its workforce with new skills and moving towards “experiential” shopping such as in-store “influencers”.