Sir David Jones has said that his chairmanship of JJB will be his last big job in retail as he faced one of his toughest challenges at today’s JJB AGM in Wigan.
Jones, who has been embroiled in a loan scandal with rival Sports Direct boss Mike Ashley, said that at 67 years old he would “absolutely not” be taking on any more big retail jobs.
“If I take on another retail challenge my wife would divorce me,” he said.
Jones, who has been re-elected to the board with almost 99 per cent of voters in favour, said he felt the AGM had gone well.
Ashley sent two representatives, who owned 50 shares each, to the meeting to challenge Jones, mainly on the company’s stock problems.
Jones insisted that he will not be taking stock from Sports Direct and that JJB needs to have its own identity in the sportswear market. He said that the way the sportswear market works needs to change.
He said: “You cannot run a retail business on six-month lead times and that is what they [the sportswear industry] have been doing. Someone needs to say that this is not a modern way of doing business.”
He stands by his original claim that he agreed the £1.5m loan before he became a non-executive director at JJB. He said that with hindsight he would not have taken the loan.
He added: “All I want to do is get on with the job for the benefit of the shareholders and employees and not the competition.”
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