Sports Direct International Plc, the U.K. sporting goods retailer, said it would pay out a huge bonus in shares to its employees after its profits exceeded its target for the fiscal year.


Excluding exceptional items, underlying profit before taxes increased 32.7 percent its year ended April 24, to £135.5 million ($217 mm). Underlying EBITDA grew 24.9 percent to £200.4 million ($321 mm). After extraordinary items, primarily financing income in the prior year, net profits slid 9.1 percent to 83.2 million ($133 mm).


Revenues for the year grew 10.2 percent to £1.6 billion ($2.6 bn). The company attributed the increase in revenues to a strong performance in the Retail division, where revenues rose 11.9 percent to £1.41 billion ($2.3 bn). Its retail banners include Sports World and Lilywhites. Retail sales in the U.K. grew 10.2 percent to £1.6 billon ($2.6 bn) and grew 6.6 percent on a comp basis. International retail revenues were up 11.3 percent to £1.24 billion ($1.98 bn).


The company’s brands division’s revenues decreased 1.5 percent to £187.7 million ($300 mm). The company’s brands include Everlast, Lonsdale, Dunlop, Slazenger and Karrimor.


Group gross margin improved 60 basis points to 41.2 percent of sales from 40.6 percent reported in the prior year.


Commenting on the full-year results, company CEO Dave Forsey said the key to the company’s growth was “the success of our employee bonus share scheme, which we introduced to focus the whole Group on our ambitious growth targets.”


According to its annual report, Sports Direct indicated that it would pay its staff a bonus in shares worth £44,000 ($70,400) after hitting its ambitious two-year targets. All 2,200 permanent staff are eligible for the payout, which is worth more than twice the average salary of £20,000 ($32,000) for a full-time worker.
The firm announced a bonus pot of £88 million ($141 mm), but the staff will have to continue working for the firm until 2013 to receive the full amount of shares under the plan. The bonuses are the result of two years when the business met what were described as stretch targets for annual profits and earnings.

Also helping drive top-line growth was the build up to the World Cup earlier in its fiscal year, the launch of its first advertising campaign, and extensive training efforts. That includes its first year of Nike Academy, which trained nearly 1,000 employees.