RETAILER Sports Direct has agreed deals to expand its European operations after becoming the majority stakeholder in two sports chains.

The company, headed by Newcastle United owner, Mike Ashley, has lined up a £34m agreement for a 51 per cent stake in Austrian family-run company, EAG, which runs Eybl and Sports Experts, and will pay an undisclosed sum for a 60 per cent stake in Baltic retailer, Sportland International Group.

Sports Direct, which has stores in Darlington, Bishop Auckland and Durham, will pay £9m to the Eybl family, who have owned EAG for 80 years, with an extra £25.7m investment in EAG debt.

The deal means billionaire Mr Ashley, who is the richest man in the North-East after adding £550m to his fortune in the past year, has the right to buy the rest of the shares from the Eybl's during the next five years for £13.2m.

The Sportland agreement will see Sports Direct benefit from the Baltic firm's standing as the largest sporting goods retailer in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, after it achieved revenues of £52.8m from its 80 stores last year.

The deals come as Sports Direct continues to benefit from the demise of rival JJB Sports, with bosses previously revealing sales had improved 14 per cent to £31.7m in the nine weeks to March 31, with gross profits up 22.7 per cent to £128.6m.