Frasers Group buys N Brown stake

Frasers Group’s shopping list of fashion names continues to grow. The latest includes buying a stake in Simply Be, JD Williams and Jacamo owner N Brown. It has snapped up a 4.54% of the online business, according to documents just filed with the London Stock Exchange.

Frasers Group’s appetite for acquiring brands already includes Studio Retail Group, Missguided and I Saw It First in recent periods, and it's constantly linked to struggling fashion brands.

The N Brown stake buy comes after that firm's shares have been falling sharply after it warned the cost-of-living crisis will continue to hit its performance. The company said that "uncertainty around macroeconomic conditions persists" and that its second quarter product revenue decline of 9.4% continued into September.

Its chief executive Steve Johnson, said: “In a difficult period of weakening consumer confidence, we’ve balanced our objectives between disciplined trading – with a focus on upholding margin – and delivering on our long-term strategy to transform the business.

“Our teams have worked relentlessly to launch Simply Be’s new website, and early indicators give us confidence in the wider benefits for all our customers when we roll this out more widely across our other strategic brands.”

Its share price dropped by more than 17% to its lowest level since May 2020 before later rising. The share price has levelled out this week and it currently trades at 23.68 a share.

Frasers Group, founded and still controlled by billionaire Mike Ashley but now run by CEO Michael Murray, is constantly on the lookout for growing its retail empire. It has yet to make a comment on the N Brown stake buy and what its intensions are.

Frasers Group buys N Brown stake

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