Hard to believe, but Mike Ashley was once seen as something of a recluse, with just one snapshot of him in circulation which was endlessly recycled by the media.

Now he can’t keep out of the headlines. Last week it was announced he would take charge of a review of working conditions for Sports Direct’s agency employees following a Guardian investigation which showed thousands were effectively receiving hourly rates below the minimum wage. Earlier, MPs lined up to criticise the business while hedge fund manager Crispin Odey, previously a fan, said Ashley was “difficult to house-train”.

On Monday he will be in the spotlight again. Sports Direct has snapped up 19% of internet retailer Findel and called a shareholder meeting to put its representative on the board. The nominee is one Benjamin Gardener, who was involved in this year’s collapse of fashion chain USC. Findel has told its investors to vote down the resolution, saying Sports Direct should buy the whole business if it wants to gain control and pointing out that Ashley’s company is in direct competition with its Kitbag online retailer.

With investors representing 44% of the shares, including fund group Tosca, voting against Sports Direct, this looks like a battle Ashley cannot win – and, given the other distractions, one he may wish he had not taken on.

Few glad tidings at Parkmead

In the week before Christmas, most people are busy frantically searching for last-minute presents, but there are always one or two company meetings slotted in for the aficionados who need their corporate fix.

One is Findel’s, in Manchester Monday, as discussed above, and on the same day in Aberdeen, oil and gas group Parkmead is holding its annual meeting. Parkmead is headed by Tom Cross, who founded and later sold Dana Petroleum to Korea National Oil Corporation for $2.9bn. But in common with other oil companies, it has seen its shares decline as the price of crude oil continues to slide, and last month it reported a £31m full-year loss after tax.

So there should be plenty to talk about at the meeting for those shareholders who do turn up. If not, there is always the advice from investor group Pirc to vote against a number of resolutions. Pirc does not like the fact that Parkmead has no nomination committee and believes there is not enough independence on the board. It also suggests voting against the appointment of non-executive director Iain Rawlinson and auditors Nexia Smith & Williamson.

All change in the FTSE 100

Anyone with a UK pension fund might want to take an interest in the fortunes of Irish distribution group DCC and payments processor Worldpay. Along with financial services firm Provident Financial, they will from Monday become part of the FTSE 100 – the index of Britain’s top companies and home to a substantial chunk of the country’s pension money – after the latest changes to the index.

The moves, announced two weeks ago, come into effect this week, and see more familiar names such as supermarket group Morrisons and outsourcing and security business G4S relegated to the mid-cap index. The other company departing the index is the possibly less well-known engineering business Meggitt.

The quarterly changes are designed to make sure the index reflects the 100 companies with the biggest market value at the time, which means the worst performers over the period face relegation, while those rising up the FTSE 250 get their chance to reach the big time.

The reshuffle took place only two weeks ago, but if it happened now Sports Direct (yes, them again) and Anglo American would be two companies facing the chop after their recent hefty declines. We’ll see if that is still the case come March.