Mike Ashley spends £2m on helicopters and private jets in 12 months

Mike Ashley spent £2m on helicopter and commercial jet flights in the year to April 2020, according to newly published accounts from the billionaire Sports Direct owner's holding company.

The bill for his AgustaWestland AW109 helicopter and Dassault Falcon 7X jet were £100,000 higher than in the previous 12 months, according to Companies House filings for Mash Holdings.

Mash owns a majority stake in Frasers Group, the listed owner of Sports Direct, House of Fraser and Evans Cycles, among others.

His family was also treated to £87,000 of matchday hospitality at Newcastle United, his former football club, down from £109,000 the year before.

Newcastle United, which was sold to Saudi Arabia for £305m in October this year - generated £142m of total revenue in the period covered, down from £181m the year before.

Mr Ashley also spent £564,000 on property he rents via the company in London and Miami.

Mash also holds stakes in other retailers including Agent Provocateur. It posted overall revenues of £4.1bn during the period, up from £3.8bn the previous year. Profits rose from £94m to £128m.

Mr Ashley is the sole director and was not paid a salary. He founded the business as a single store in Maidenhead in 1982 and has turned it into a £3.6bn business with almost 1,000 shops.

He has previously defended his use of company aircraft to travel. In an 2016 BBC interview, the Sports Direct founder said: “I don’t get paid a salary but what I do like to do is go by private plane. And I do like to go by private plane because it saves a lot of time and it’s very efficient.”

In May, the Mail on Sunday reported that Mr Ashley’s jet had clocked up 145,000 miles in 12 months, landing at 34 destinations in 15 countries since June 1, 2020.

They included the Maldives, Dubai, Portugal, Miami and Orlando in Florida, Crete, Mykonos and Zakynthos in Greece, as well as Majorca and Ibiza.

Mash did not respond to a request for comment. Frasers is due to post its interim results this week.

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