Ashley pledges to fight on with House of Fraser

MIKE Ashley has vowed that his troubled House Of Fraser chain will fight on as it faces the crucial festive period.

The retail entrepreneur described reports that he was planning to shut most of the department store’s 53 shops after Christmas as ‘unbelievable’.

The Sports Direct boss said he was renewing leases and investing in the chain as he battles to revive its fortunes, having bought it out of administration for £90m last year.

‘It is totally incorrect to assume that there will be large numbers of store closures in the new year,’ a Sports Direct spokesman said.

When the sporting goods retailer bought House Of Fraser last August, Ashley vowed to turn it into the ‘ Harrods of the High Street’. But in July this year he warned that the problems facing House Of Fraser ‘are nothing short of terminal in nature’.

The 55-year- old tycoon – whose 63pc stake in Sports Direct is worth £937m – is desperately trying to keep his ailing retail empire on the straight and narrow.

It is almost a month since accountants Grant Thornton quit as Sports Direct’s auditor, and a replacement has still yet to be found. If Ashley fails to find one, Business Secretary Andrea Leadsom may be dragged in and the retailer’s future as a listed company could be at risk.

In July, Ashley was forced to admit Sports Direct was being pursued for a £577m tax bill in Belgium. On the same day he said the House Of Fraser deal had created ‘ significant uncertainty’ as to the future profitability of his entire group as it posted a £54.6m loss.

Another of his businesses, five-aside football firm Goals Soccer Centres was kicked out of the stock exchange last week in the midst of an accounting scandal.

Critics said the catalogue of catastrophes showed Ashley’s empire was in ‘chaos’.

Independent retail analyst Richard Hyman said: ‘Mike Ashley’s reputation goes before him.

‘ Normally, auditors would be forming a very lengthy queue to do business with him. The fact there is such universal reluctance speaks volumes. House Of Fraser has been in disarray all along.

‘Given the size of his business, it shows there’s chaos and the shareholders are the main people who are losing out.’

Ashley – who also owns struggling Premier League side Newcastle United – has said he wants to take some of the House Of Fraser stores upmarket, converting them into Frasers, which would be more akin to his Flannels designer clothing chain.

The Department for Business was contacted for comment.