Frasers Group once again raises its stake in ASOS

Frasers Group, the owner of Sports Direct and Flannels, continues to invest in e-commerce by raising its stake in ASOS to nearly 17%.

The company has increased its stake from 10.5% to 16.8%. This comes mere months after its previous investment in the company. In June, the group raised its stake from 7.4% to 8.8%.

Mike Ashley’s retail empire, which is now run by his son-in-law Michael Murray, is the third largest shareholder in ASOS behind Danish billionaire and Bestseller owner Anders Holch Povlsen and Camelot Capital Partners.

Frasers often takes what it describes as "strategic stakes" in fashion brands and currently holds shares in Mulberry and Hugo Boss. It had previously held shareholdings in French Connection Debenhams, the latter of which now comes under the Boohoo umbrella after the group bought the former department store chain's name and IP and revived it as an online-only entity.

ASOS revealed sales dropped 7% to £1.84 billion in the six months to 28 February 2023, whilst pre-tax losses widened to £290.9 million (2022: £15. 9 million).

The loss was in large part down to a write-off of £128.2 million worth of stock and £49.4 million of non-cash property impairments due to closure costs relating to the reduction is the size of its HQ and logistics footprint.

This comes after Frasers Group upped its stake in Boohoo Group on 28 July for the second time over a matter of days. It now holds 7.9% of the online fashion group's stock. The latest tranche of shares were acquired following another share purchase on 26 July which took its shareholding from 5% to 6.8%.