BUT CHAIN SHOWING ‘GREEN SHOOTS’
BY TRICIA PHILLIPS SPORTS Direct boss Mike Ashley is to close more House of Fraser stores next year – even though the troubled clothing chain is showing “green shoots of recovery”.
The closures are expected among shops deemed to be still “unsustainable” following Ashley’s £90million buy-up from administrators last year.
Despite the department store’s continued troubles, Sports Direct saw sales jump 14 per cent in the six months to October 27, to £2billion, with pretax profits up 160 per cent to £193.4million.
Ashley said: “I am very proud of the results we have achieved during this half-year period and what the group has achieved during a very tough and challenging retail environment.
“We are continuing to review the longer-term portfolio and would expect the number of retained stores to continue to reduce in the next 12 months. We are doing as much as we can to realistically save as many jobs and stores as possible.” Sports Direct chairman David Daly said of House of Fraser: “We are starting to see the green shoots of recovery as we integrate the business into the group.” Ashley set out a number of reasons for the problems at House of Fraser including “serious under-investment”. He also attacked his rivals, regulators and politicians over some of the scandals that have unravelled at businesses where Sports Direct had been a shareholder, including Debenhams and Goals Soccer Centres. He added that Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who attacked the way Ashley runs his business during the election campaign, was “clueless” and launched an attack on the Government, demanding a change to the business rates system which he said is no longer fit for purpose.
Tycoon Ashley largest fall since 2017. There are now 1254 overall savings products that pay higher than 0.75 per cent. For the best easy access accounts, go online – The Family Building Society pays 1.26 per cent and Aldemore Bank 1.25 per cent.
You can also get three per cent on one-year regular savings bonds with Kent Reliance and Saffron Building Society in their branches.
Rachel Springall, finance expert at Moneyfacts, said: “It has clearly been an unforgiving year for the savings market, which has felt an onslaught of cuts.”