Frasers Group ups stake in N Brown, becomes second-largest shareholder

Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group has once again upped its stake in online retailer N Brown, making it the group’s second-largest shareholder.

The fashion giant, which owns the likes of Sports Direct, Missguided and House of Fraser, increased its stake to 17.88 percent, according to the company’s regulatory filing.

Frasers initially increased its stake in the Manchester-based business in November last year, one month after it first bought shares of the group.

It comes as Frasers continues to make a slew of acquisitions across struggling retail brands, with it already having acquired the likes of Missguided, Studio Retail and ISawItFirst in 2022.

The group had also started building up its stake in Asos, now holding over five percent of shares as the e-tailer continued to report plummeting sales and the announcement of a stock write-off.

Similarly, N Brown has also been faced with a challenging environment, reporting earlier this month that its sales had slipped to 249.2 million pounds in Q4 of last year.

The company, which owns Simply Be and JD Williams, cited a “difficult period of weakening consumer confidence” and “macroeconomic pressures” among the array of issues it was tackling.