Mike Ashley’s fashion conglomerate has demanded the appointment of the retail tycoon as boss of Boohoo, where it is the largest shareholder, to fix the “leadership crisis” at the business. Frasers Group has called for Boohoo to replace John Lyttle with Ashley in an open letter following news of a possible break-up of the company. Lyttle has announced his intention of stepping down as chief executive.
Ashley’s retail group owns 27 per cent of Boohoo and has warned the fast-fashion outlet “urgently needs to address the management of its business” owing to its “abysmal trading performance and share price collapse”. The FTSE 100 group said appointing Ashley to the top job would be “the best solution to Boohoo’s leadership crisis”. • Fast-fashion’s rivals face off.