Goals Soccer rejects Sports Direct's calls for further accounting probe

19th Jun 2019 14:41

(Sharecast News) - Five-a-side football pitch operator Goals Soccer Centres responded on Wednesday after Sports Direct demanded that the company hire a corporate investigator of its choice to look into a series of accounting issues that led to the suspension of its shares.Last month, Goals appointed forensic accountants to probe its finances, as it said results for the year to the end of December 2019 were expected to be "materially below prior expectations" after the company misdeclared its VAT bill for several years.However, Mike Ashley's Sports Direct - which holds an 18.9% stake in Goals - has written to the group requesting that it appoint further advisors.Sky News reported on Tuesday that Sports Direct had demanded that corporate investigator Kroll investigate its accounts.But Goals said in a statement:" The board believes that it does not need to appoint further advisors at this time."Goals announced on Tuesday that it was in the process of engaging Deloitte to work alongside its current advisors and its lenders to assess its future corporate options.According to Sky, Sports Direct has set a deadline of 1700 BST on Wednesday for Goals to reconsider its refusal to hire Kroll and has warned that the company's directors could face further action if they do not.