Frasers appoints Italian fashion brand boss to board

THE chief executive of Italian designer shoe company Sergio Rossi is joining the board of Frasers, as the retailer pushes ahead with plans to move upmarket.

Frasers, which owns House of Fraser and Sports Direct, confirmed the appointment of Helen Wright yesterday, who will join the business as a non-executive director.

Ms Wright, who took the reins at

Sergio Rossi last December, previously worked at a range of luxury fashion houses, including LVMH, Anya Hindmarch and Karl Lagerfeld.

Michael Murray, chief executive of Frasers, said that Ms Wright’s experience of driving transformation at global luxury brands” would help shape the group’s strategy.

Frasers has been working to grow its luxury business, building on success in its upmarket Flannels stores.

Late last year, it snapped up luxury online store Matches Fashion in a £52m deal, with Mr Murray saying financial pressures across the sector were creating more opportunities.

He said: “If you look at the global luxury market, you can start to see the cracks in the businesses which haven’t got that financial resilience.

“With the slight dip in the market, opportunities will suddenly start to present themselves.”

Frasers has also been working to take its Sports Direct stores more upmarket, adding more high-end brands – such as North Face – to help boost profits.

The business is expecting to post adjusted profits of between £500m and £550m for the year in what would be a record high. Last year, its full-year profits came in at £478.1m.

Ms Wright’s appointment formed part of a raft of additions to Frasers’ board.

It was also announced that Sir Jon Thompson, the former chief of the Financial Reporting Council, will join the board as a non-executive director later this year. In a statement, the company hailed his “expertise in corporate governance and major project management”.

David Al-mudallal, Frasers’ chief operating officer, and Ger Wright, its managing director of sports, are also being added to the board as executive directors.

‘With the slight dip in the market, opportunities will suddenly start to present themselves’