Mike Ashley may not be up to Boohoo job

T he pantomime season is not yet upon us. But who cares about that? Over at Boohoo, the scene is set for a twist on The Little and Large Show: out the door goes John Lyttle and in, as replacement chief executive, comes none other than Big Mike Ashley. Or that, at least, is the script the Frasers founder is ostensibly pushing in what is shaping up into a delightful showdown with the man behind Boohoo — its executive chairman Mahmud Kamani.

Ashley is the No 1 investor in the fast fashion group, with 27 per cent — more than double Kamani’s 12.4 per cent, even if his family holds a further 7 per cent. And, as Frasers has written to the board, it’s sick of.