Frasers ups stake in Boohoo to 13.4%

Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group has upped its stake in Boohoo to 13.4% as it continues investing in a number of UK fashion retailers.

Frasers has upped its stake of 10% which it held at the start of the week. This means it now holds 170,426,000 voting rights in the company.

The group had previously stated that Boohoo aligned with its strategy of building “supportive positions in attractive companies”.

Frasers said: “Boohoo is an attractive proposition to us with its laser focus on young female consumers. We see potential synergies and an opportunity to strengthen our own brand proposition in collaboration with Boohoo, most obviously with Frasers Group brands I Saw It First and Missguided.”

The news also comes as Boohoo revealed earlier this week that its revenues plunged by 17% to £729.1m in the first half of the year, after a slower than expected recovery in its sales by volume.

Over the period, UK revenues were down by 19% while International sales fell by 15%, as the number of orders fell by 18% in total.

The retailer also fell to a pre-tax loss of £9.1m, down from a profit of £6.2m the prior year.

Following the slower than anticipated volume recovery, FY24 revenues are now expected to fall by between 12% and 17%. The group also attributed this to the continued targeting of more profitable sales within its labels over the period.

Nonetheless, the group said it has identified more than £125m of cost savings across cost of goods, supply chain and overheads, to be delivered across FY24 and FY25 as part of a “disciplined” reinvestment programme

In addition, it noted that gross margin strengthened over the period, despite significant investments into reducing lead times in the supply chain and into price reductions for customers.