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LONDON, Nov 25 (Reuters) - Britain's Sports Direct
International, the sporting goods retailer founded and
controlled by Mike Ashley, is to rebrand as Frasers Group, it
said on Monday.
Sports Direct said the rebranding, which is subject to
shareholder approval at a Dec. 16 meeting, is being undertaken
"to reflect the changing profile and consumer proposition of the
group."
The group purchased the House of Fraser department store
chain out of administration for 90 million pounds ($115 million)
in August last year - a decision Ashley said in July may have
been a mistake.
Sports Direct was founded by Ashley as a single store in
Maidenhead, southern England, in 1982. It now employs 29,400 in
20 countries across six business segments - UK Sports Retail,
Premium Lifestyle, House of Fraser Retail, European Sports
Retail, Rest of World Retail and Wholesale & Licensing.
The choice of the new brand reflects what Sports Direct
calls its "elevation strategy", encompassing the group as a
whole.
It said the proposed rebrand follows its decision to bring
Frasers "luxury lifestyle stores", to the high street within its
next financial year - 2020-21.
"The decision to rebrand the group as Frasers reflects the
fact that this new, elevated concept will house the core areas
of focus for the wider business – iconic brands, beauty, sports
and luxury fashion," it said.
In July, Sports Direct reported a 6% fall in core earnings
for the 2018-19 year and warned it could face a 674 million euro
bill from Belgium's tax authority.
Shares in the firm, 63.3% of which are owned by Ashley,
closed up 1.1%, taking gains for 2019 to 43% and valuing the
group at about 1.8 billion pounds.
($1 = 0.7794 pounds)
(Reporting by James Davey, Editing by Paul Sandle)
