Sports Direct sacks House of Fraser management team

Mike Ashley bought the troubled high street chain out of administration in a £90m deal earlier this year

Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct has sacked the entire senior management team of House of Fraser, weeks after buying the department store chain out of administration.

“Following the collapse of House of Fraser on 10 August 2018, and subsequent calls for an investigation into the circumstances of that collapse, the company today announces that we have dismissed the former directors and senior management of House of Fraser,” Sports Direct said in a statement. The company offered no further details.

The discount sports giant paid £90m for the troubled high street group, picking up all its UK stores, branding and stock.

Mr Ashley said he planned to keep 80 per cent of House of Fraser outlets open, and outlined ambitions to turn the brand into the “Harrods of the high street”.

However, last month it emerged that stores in Edinburgh, Hull and Swindon were set to shut, with Mr Ashley blaming “greedy landlords” for “refusing to be reasonable”.

The retail tycoon, who also owns Newcastle United, has come under fire from property groups for his approach to rent negotiations with landlords.

Melanie Leech, chief executive of the British Property Federation, said: “What has been taking place is negotiations between House of Fraser and its landlords – a two-party process – where each party will have its own interests and one party simply can’t cry ‘unfair’ in the media when it doesn’t get what it wants.”

Mr Ashley has also faced criticism for his failure to address House of Fraser customers’ concerns, after all online orders were cancelled and gift cards were made invalid.

Meanwhile, a number of brands have been left out of pocket following the sale of House of Fraser, after administrators EY revealed that suppliers including Gucci, Prada and Ralph Lauren, would not be paid money owed to them, with some amounts running to millions of pounds.

Mike Saul, Mulberry founder, warned that luxury brands would “think very hard” about continuing to deal with House of Fraser under its new ownership.

He said: “This is a fundamental change to how retailing will work and brands will have to think very hard: ‘Do I stay with Mike [Ashley] in his new form, what will his new form be?’”