Mike Ashley launches raid on Mulberry boardroom
Sports Direct founder risks fight with Singapore-based billionaire hotelier at luxury handbag maker
THE sportswear entrepreneur Mike Ashley is mounting an incursion on to the board of the luxury handbag maker Mulberry, threatening to pit him against its majority owners in a boardroom battle of the billionaires.
Frasers, the £3.6bn retailer controlled by Mr Ashley, owns 37pc of Mulberry’s Aim-listed shares.
However, Mulberry is controlled by the Singapore-based billionaire hotelier Ong Beng Seng and his wife Christina, who hold sway over 56pc of the Somerset-based brand.
It is understood that Mr Ashley’s lieutenants met Mulberry’s chairman Chris Roberts and chief executive Thierry Andretta in recent weeks to request a voice in the boardroom.
Mr Roberts is managing director of the Ongs’ British hotel and retail company, Como Holdings UK. Two of Mulberry’s eight directors are independent, according to the company. The request from Mr Ashley has not yet been granted or turned down.
Industry sources said the meeting was organised after Frasers, which first invested in 2020, grew frustrated about what it views as a lack of transparency around Mulberry’s business in Asia.
In 2017 the brand signed a deal with Challice, the Ongs’ company in Singapore, to establish a joint venture to expand Mulberry in the Far East. Challice took a 40pc stake in the venture, which was intended to propel growth in China with new stores and marketing.
Mr Ashley’s lieutenants are said to be seeking more information about how the new arrangement operates, including whether it rents property from Challice and whether the Ongs otherwise benefit. Mulberry’s latest dividend totalled less than £1.8m.
Its new Asian joint venture replaced a distribution deal with another company controlled by the Ongs, but Mulberry’s performance since has failed to excite. The shares were hit hard by the 2017 crisis and bankruptcy of House of Fraser – one of the main domestic market outlets for its handbags, which sell for up to £1,500 – and have not recovered. At 250p, they are 67pc down over the past five years.
At its most recent half-year results Mulberry reported overall sales of £64.9m, down from £74.6m in 2017. It also swung to a half-year underlying pre-tax loss from a profit of £4.5m.
Amid the decline of UK high streets and some foreign growth, international revenue now accounts for a larger proportion of the sales mix. In common with rival Western fashion brands its plans have also been disrupted by Covid and China’s extended lockdowns.
Mr Ashley bought House of Fraser out of administration and retails Mulberry via its website and diminished store estate, having also rebranded his corporate empire from Sports Direct to Frasers. His newer upmarket chain Flannels also carries the brand.
While the 58-year-old has stepped down from the Frasers board and handed day-to-day control to chief executive Michael Murray, his son-inlaw, he remains closely involved with the company’s outside investments.
The campaign for board representation at Mulberry represents the company’s latest aggressive foray into the world of luxury fashion, a priority as it targets the stronger growth and higher profit margins at the top end of retail.
Frasers has also built a stake in Hugo Boss. It holds about 3.9pc of shares directly and has exposure to around £580m of shares.
A confrontation with the Ongs would represent an escalation of Mr Ashley’s ambition to shake up fashion. The Ongs have a combined net worth of about $1.75bn (£1.4bn) and have controlled Mulberry for more than two decades.