LONDON, Sept 7 (Reuters) - Britain's Sports Direct said on Wednesday it had rejected an offer by its chairman tostep down over failings in its working practices, hours beforeinvestors are expected to register their anger at him at ashareholder meeting.
The sportswear retailer said Keith Hellawell had been askedby the board, which includes the company's founder and majorityshareholder, Mike Ashley, to continue in his role as chairman.
"Hellawell had offered to step down over the weekend in thelight of the shortcomings highlighted in (a Working Practices)report, but he will stay in his role in order to assist withmaking further improvements," Sports Direct said.
Hellawell faces a rough ride from investors at SportsDirect's annual shareholder meeting later Wednesday. A number ofinvestors, including Legal & General, have said they will opposehis re-election.
Ahead of the meeting Sports Direct said Ashley has confirmedto the board that it remains the case that he has no currentintention to take the company private.
It also updated on its outlook, forecasting underlyingearnings for its full year 2017 of about 300 million pounds($402 million), broadly in line with market forecasts.
The group, which had previously failed to give a profitoutlook for the year, made core earnings of 381.4 million poundsin its 2015-16 year
It said the forecast was, however, subject to group salesgrowth of at least 9 percent, a group gross margin decline of noworse than 275 basis points and an increase in operating costsof no worse than 8 percent.
The firm reiterated that it remained unhedged on the U.Sdollar/pound sterling for 2017 with the policy under review.($1 = 0.7455 pounds) (Reporting by James Davey; editing by Kate Holton)