Sports Direct International, the retailer run by Mike Ashley, the controversial entrepreneur, is today expected to announce that Credit Suisse - which helped float the business with Merrill Lynch - is stepping down as corporate broker.

The Swiss bank will be replaced by Kaupthing Singer & Friedlander, which specialises in smaller companies and is close to Baugur, the Icelandic investment group.

Insiders said that the decision was made by "mutual consent", although it is not thought the bank enjoyed a warm relationship with a company that has a poor reputation as a communicator in the City.

Credit Suisse helped with the flotation of Sports Direct in early 2007, and the company's shares have since lost about a third of their value. Merrill Lynch, the principal adviser in that deal, remains as an alternative broker to the company.

Mr Ashley, the controlling shareholder, who is also the owner of Newcastle United Football Club, remains as deputy chairman while Sports Direct looks for a chairman to replace David Richardson, who resigned last year,

Mr Ashley retains a low profile with investors, while the company struggles to satisfy the City because it provides little detail about its strategy.

Times Recommends

• Equitable Life halts £7bn sale on market turmoil
• Potential buyers emerge to save Woolworths staff
• Terrorist attacks close Bombay Stock Exchange