Sports Direct has conceded that it is not in line with corporate governance best practice and said that it is not taking any immediate action to change its stance.

In its annual report published yesterday Sports Direct admitted that it did not comply with a number of the codes mainly concerning the number of independent non-executives on its board.

It said that while it intends to appoint a further independent non-executive director to the board to make it compliant “no steps are currently been taken to achieve that”. It added that its position was being kept under review.

Sports Direct has been heavily criticised for its corporate governance stance since it floated in 2007. Ahead of its last full year results last month Investec challenged the retailer on key corporate governance and the disclosure of business information. 

Separately, in the report, Sports Direct said it had written off £3.6m of stock after plans for its expansion into China were stalled.

The retailer had signed a deal with Chinese retailer ITAT to roll out branded Sports Direct areas across 121 of its stores. The future of this venture is now in doubt after ITAT was bought by a supplier.

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