Sports Direct have won an injunction against Rangers Football Club to prevent confidential information being revealed at a club shareholders general meeting planned for Friday.
The injunction was obtained at the Chancery Division of London’s High Court after Sports Direct complained that information had already been leaked to the press.
A judge ruled: “I am satisfied there is a real risk of disclosure tomorrow of confidential information”.
Sports Direct owner Mike Ashley, who has shares in Rangers and also owns Newcastle United, sent his lawyers to court after the Daily Record newspaper carried reports of what the judge was told was secret information relating to commercial links between Sports Direct and Rangers which, it was claimed in court, must have come from board members.
Rangers’ lawyers said there was no evidence as to the actual source of the leaks.
MASH Holdings, the company which holds Mr Ashley’s 9% shareholding in Rangers, called for the meeting to discuss the immediate repayment of a £5 million loan made to the club.
But media reports say that Rangers’ current chairman Dave King has threatened to use the shareholders meeting to expose the real truth of what the club’s commercial contracts were with Mr Ashley’s empire.