Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct have announced a series of dismissals at House of Fraser’s senior and director level management.
Weeks after rescuing the 169 year old business from administration, Sports Direct revealed that it has dismissed “the former directors and senior management of House of Fraser”.
Sports Direct spent £90 million acquiring the struggling department store chain, with owner Ashley telling press at the time that he intends to turn it into the “Harrods of the high street”.
In a brief stock market statement on Monday night, Sports Direct said: “Following the collapse of House of Fraser on August 10 2018, and subsequent calls for an investigation into the circumstances of that collapse, the company today announces that we have dismissed the former directors and senior management of House of Fraser.”
Ashley’s repeated calls for an insolvency service probe into the cause of the collapse have been supported by the co-founder of Tea Terrace, a major supplier to House of Fraser.
Ehab Shouly told the Sunday Times that House of Fraser’s former chairman Frank Slevin and former chief executive Alex Williamson “kept vital information from us and kept telling us that news about the impending collapse was not true”.
Shouly alleges the House of Fraser bosses withheld vital information about the company in the lead up to its failure.
The dismissals come as Sports Direct continues talks with landlords over the country regarding severe cuts in rent for House of Fraser’s stores.
Those in Edinburgh, Hull and Swindon were unable to be saved, while Ashley has struck out at “greedy” property landlords who refused new terms for the retailer.
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