Mike Ashley said to eye a European purchase

Interesting to see Mike Ashley's Sports Direct deny speculation that the company is planning buy shoe chain Office. Here is a link to the statement from Sports Direct: http://www.investegate.co.uk/sports-direct-intl---spd-/rns/trade-speculation---office/201406300700158347K/

I spent the whole of last week trying to stand up a story that Ashley - a true maverick - is trying to purchase a retailer in "Europe" (i.e. outside of the UK) for the Mail on Sunday's business section.

The suggestion was that Ashley, who owns Newcastle United Football Club, is/was interested in purchasing the Marketing Investment Group, a Polish sportswear wholesaler and retailer. Here is a link to the Marketing Investment Group's website:  http://miggroup.com/?l=2

When I put the tale to Sports Direct's spokesperson on Friday afternoon, I was greeted with a "no comment".

Without any official or unofficial guidance, I decided against publishing a story in the Mail on Sunday but I will let loyal Betaville readers decide whether I was barking up the right tree or not...

UPDATE: I am reliably informed that Sports Direct released the denial statement on Friday night and then re-released the statement on RNS this morning, which is a bit odd as I was never sent the statement on Friday night. I'm not sure what the implication is here but it certainly adds to the mystery of the situation.