Less than seven months after flotation, Mike Ashley's Sports Direct had a lot to report to shareholders at its inaugural annual meeting on Monday.

In that short time, the retailer has produced one profit warning, lost a chairman and a set of public relations advisers, gained shares in an array of public companies such as Adidas, bought a private rival as well as threatening to oust the board of Blacks Leisure for alleged strategic mismanagement.

In spite of the excitement, Mr Ashley, who has also found time to buy Newcastle United football club, looked bored for much of the AGM held in a conference room at the newly built vast headquarters in Shirebrook,Derbyshire.

Perhaps he was mulling over his relationship with another sports company, Umbro, in which Sports Direct has snapped up a 5 per cent stake.

In a surprising Stock Exchange announcement made before the AGM, Umbro - which makes the England football team's shirt - had revealed the stake- building by its biggest customer.

Whether it presaged a full blown takeover bid, a financial investment or an attempt to gain additional leverage with a significant supplier was unclear.

What was clear is the potential for another volley of Sports Direct fireworks as the company considers whether to honour a contract to buy two-thirds of all Umbro's England shirts.

Notwithstanding Saturday's win against Israel, the recent poor performances of the football team appear to have deterred fans from buying the shirt.

Sports Direct declined to confirm it would meet the commitment, while Mr Ashleyis understood to believe cancelling orders can win concessions from suppliers - even more readily, perhaps, when Sports Direct owns a chunk of the supplier's shares.

In another surprise, the group revealed it had spent £180m on Adidas shares - almost four times more than previously disclosed.

Umbro footballs were sitting in a tub at the Shirebrook factory outlet priced at only £2.49 - a reminder of the pricing power enjoyedby Sports Direct, which at times has caused consternation in most of its bigsuppliers.

Consternation is an emotion caused frequently by Sports Direct. But in Shirebrook, nestled between "a dollop of old pit villages where half the population is on the dole" as one local put it, the company is welcome.

The handful of retail investors that attended were also full of admiration for Mr Ashley's achievements.

Especially Geoffrey Collins who had come down from Huddersfield for the afternoon. "I'm one of the few sitting on a profit," he said.

For Mr Collins, the Sports Direct founder is "the sort of businessman that comes along once every 10 years like Weinstock, Morrison and Branson".

He was, though, a little disappointed in Mr Ashley's distinctly casual attire.

For some analysts that is emblematic of a broader disdain for City conventions. The company is still without a chairman since the resignation in May of David Richardson, the former Whitbread finance director.

Simon Bentley, interim chairman, revealed yesterday that he had assembled a short-list of three candidates but that the timetable had slipped from October to the end of the year.

More serious still from the point of view of those trying to gauge Sports Direct's performance was a refusal to provide comparable figures.

Sales of £335m for the first quarter appear to be a decline on last year butno one - perhaps noteven Sports Direct, suggested analyst Philip Dorganof Panmure Gordon -knows by how much.

Mr Bentley did say, however, that the company would produce comparable numbers at its interim.

To try to promote understanding of the company, Shirebrook will play host this month to an investor and analyst day.

It appeared that most of the City was keeping its powder dry until then. A representative of Hermes was the only institutional investor in evidence yesterday. He asked why the company was buying £100m of freehold property from Mr Ashley and why that hadnot been done before the initial public offering in February.

Bob Mellors, the much-criticised finance director, appeared to blame investment bankers for the untidy situation. "It was a matter that was discussed with our advisers at the time andwe took their advice," he said.

At the end of the AGM, Mr Ashley admitted he was not yet adapted to public life. "I'm finding it very challenging," he said. "Especially the procedures."