Sports Direct regrets saving House of Fraser from closure

House of Fraser CVA

Sports Direct says it regrets rescuing House of Fraser in its much-delayed results, which revealed a €674m (£605m) tax bill from Belgium authorities.

The firm, which bought the department store out of administration a year ago, said: “If we had the gift of hindsight we might have made a different decision in August 2018.”

It described problems at House of Fraser as “nothing short of terminal”.

It added it was in talks with Belgian officials to resolve the tax bill.

The full-year results had been due to be published on 15 July but were delayed until 26 July, in part, because of uncertainty over the future trading performance of House of Fraser.

‘House of horrors’

Those results had been expected to be published on Friday morning, but were subject to continuous delays throughout the day.

It has now emerged that Sports Direct, which is majority-owned and run by billionaire Mike Ashley, was hit by the tax bill by Belgian authorities on 25 July.

Mike Ashley
Sports Direct CEO Mike Ashley

The company said the request for back taxes is linked to the way its goods are moved throughout the European Union and are taxed in Belgium.

Meanwhile, it also said that its chief financial officer of two years, Jon Kempster, is stepping down and will be succeeded by his deputy, Chris Wootton.

Commenting on House of Fraser, Neil Wilson, chief market analyst at Markets.com, said: “It’s a House of horrors, more like.”

He said Sports Direct had “every reason to regret buying House of Fraser now”.

“It’s such a shame as there were such high hopes,” he added.

Mr Ashley had vowed to turn House of Fraser into the “Harrods of the High Street” when he bought the department store chain out of administration for £90m last August.

However, on Friday he said: “In the short-term you can’t justify it. It’s like buying a broken down car at the roadside – you have to get it to the garage to fix it.”

But he said: “Long-term, we’d like to think we are hopeful of where we are going.”