Superdry co-founder gives £1m to charity

One of the co-founders of sports fashion business Superdry is leaving the company, partly to spend more time on charity work.

Julian Dunkerton has also pledged to give more than £1m of Superdry shares to conservation charity, Blue Marine.

Mr Dunkerton founded the business with Ian Hibbs in 1985 from a market stall in Cheltenham and opened its first store in Covent Garden in 2004.

It now has more than 500 outlets in 46 countries.

Superdry became a public company in 2010, listing its shares on the London Stock Exchange.

The business made Mr Dunkerton a multi-millionaire.

He has sold two significant chunks of shares since then, realising £17.8m in January this year, and in 2016 he sold £50m in shares.

Mr Dunkerton said: "I am immensely proud of everything achieved at Superdry over the past 15 years.

"With other demands on my time, it is the right point for me to transition my focus and responsibilities."

Commenting on Mr Dunkerton's departure, Superdry chairman Peter Bamford said: "Julian and I have been talking for some time about the right time for him to move on from the business.

"I would like to thank Julian for his outstanding contribution in building Superdry into such a great brand."

The Blue Marine Foundation says its aim is to combat overfishing and the destruction of biodiversity with the creation of large scale marine reserves.