Sports Direct has seen its annual underlying pre-tax profit drop by 8.4% to £275.2 million in what it described as a disappointing year.

In the year to 24 April 2016, EBITDA edged down 0.5% to £381.4 million while group revenue increased by 2.5% to £2.9 billion.

Dave Forsey, Sports Direct chief executive, said: "The group has delivered a disappointing full year financial performance, impacted primarily by a tough trading environment in the second half across our sports retail businesses.”

Sports Direct said trading since the start of May and leading up to the EU referendum was broadly in line with management expectations albeit with the continued volatility seen in the wider retail sector.

Looking ahead, Forsey added: “Since the EU vote we expect the current political uncertainty, and potential weakness in the UK's short to medium term economic outlook, is likely to act as a continuing drag on consumer confidence.

"When combined with the structural difficulties for UK retailers, including high street footfall, and our exposure to the weakness of the pound against the US dollar (as announced on 24 June 2016), these factors make the current outlook for FY17 somewhat uncertain and therefore hard to predict.”

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