Frasers Group plc (formerly known as Sports Direct International plc) is a British

retail Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesaler, and t ...

sport Sport pertains to any form of Competition, competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and Skill, skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to specta ...

and

intellectual property Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, cop ...

group, named after its ownership of the department store chain

House of Fraser House of Fraser (also operating as Frasers) is a British department store group with 44 locations across the United Kingdom, which is now part of Frasers Group. It was established in Glasgow, Scotland in 1849 as Arthur and Fraser. By 1891, it w ...

. The company is best known for trading predominantly under the Sports Direct brand which operates both physical outlets and online. Other retailers owned by the company include

Jack Wills Jack Wills is a British clothing brand founded in Salcombe, Devon, in 1999. History Peter Williams and Robert Shaw founded the brand in 1999. Williams was 23 when the first store opened at 22 Fore Street, Salcombe, and it was created with � ...

GAME A game is a structured form of play (activity), play, usually undertaken for enjoyment, entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator s ...

, Flannels,

USC USC most often refers to: * University of South Carolina, a public research university ** University of South Carolina System, the main university and its satellite campuses **South Carolina Gamecocks, the school athletic program * University of ...

Lillywhites Lillywhites is a sports retailer based at Piccadilly Circus, London, United Kingdom. It is a division of Frasers Group. History In the 19th century, several members of the Lillywhite family were leading cricketers; another, Fred Lillywhite, o ...

and

Evans Cycles Evans Cycles is a British cycle retailer. It was opened in central London by a London cyclist, Frederick Evans, who won an award from Britain's largest cycling club for the best cycling invention of 1925. He left his shop to be run by his manager ...

. The company owns numerous intellectual property, including the brands

Everlast Erik Francis Schrody (born August 18, 1969), known by his stage name Everlast, is an American musician, singer, rapper, and songwriter, who was the frontman for hip hop group House of Pain. He was also part of the hip hop supergroup La Coka ...

, Lonsdale,

Slazenger Slazenger () is a British sports equipment brand owned by the Frasers Group (formerly Sports Direct). The company was established as a sporting goods shop in 1881 by Ralph and Albert Slazenger on London's Cannon Street.J. R. Lowerson, 'Slazenge ...

and

No Fear No Fear is an American lifestyle clothing brand that was created in 1989 by Mark Simo, Brian Simo, Boris Said, and Marty Moates. No Fear Inc. products are sold at various retail stores ancompany owned stores It also offers No Fear energy drink ...

. The group also expanded into operating fitness clubs, launching the Everlast Fitness Club chain in 2020. Established in 1982 by Mike Ashley, the company is the United Kingdom's largest sports-goods retailer and operates roughly 670 stores worldwide. The company's business model is one that operates under low margins. Mike Ashley has continued to hold a majority stake in the business, and his holding has been 61.7 percent since October 2013. It is listed on the

London Stock Exchange London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Pau ...

and it is a constituent of the

FTSE 100 Index The Financial Times Stock Exchange 100 Index, also called the FTSE 100 Index, FTSE 100, FTSE, or, informally, the "Footsie" , is a share index of the 100 companies listed on the London Stock Exchange with (in principle) the highest market ...

History

Early history

The company was founded by Mike Ashley in 1982 as a single store in

Maidenhead Maidenhead is a market town in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in the county of Berkshire, England, on the southwestern bank of the River Thames. It had an estimated population of 70,374 and forms part of the border with southern Bu ...

trading under the name of "Mike Ashley Sports".

Going public

In late November 2006, a number of business newspapers reported that Ashley was looking at an

IPO An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...

of Sports World International. He hired

Merrill Lynch Merrill (officially Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated), previously branded Merrill Lynch, is an American investment management and wealth management division of Bank of America. Along with BofA Securities, the investment bank ...

, who valued the group at up to £2.5bn ahead of a possible flotation on the

. The group debuted on the exchange on 27 February 2007.

Corporate finance and mergers

By December 2006, Sports Direct had built up a 29.4% stake in

Blacks Leisure Group Blacks Outdoor Retail Ltd. is a British retailer, headquartered in Bury, Greater Manchester, England which owns the British outdoor retailers Blacks, Millets and Ultimate Outdoors. Blacks is the largest outdoor retailer in the UK with stores ...

, the owner of Millets. In 2007 Ashley held talks with John Hargreaves, founder of

Matalan Matalan is a British fashion and homeware retailer based in Knowsley, Merseyside. It was established by John Hargreaves in 1985, and is still owned by the Hargreaves family. , the company employed over 13,000, and had 230 stores in the United K ...

on both taking a 25% stake in the troubled retail business and installing mezzanine floors in larger Matalan stores, on which SportsDirect.com outlets could be operated. In June 2007, the company acquired Everlast for £84 million. Sports World, High Street, Scunthorpe - geograph

Sports World, High Street, Scunthorpe - geograph

By July 2008, Sports Direct was also holding a 12.3% holding in the John David Group, parent of

JD Sports JD Sports Fashion plc, more commonly known as JD Sports or JD, is a British sports-fashion retail company based in Bury, Greater Manchester, England. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. Pentlan ...

. The stake amounted to 11.9% of JD Sports in November 2013. Sports Direct formerly held 5% of

Amer Sports Amer Sports Oyj is a Finnish sporting goods retailer and holding company overseeing equipment brands Salomon, Arc'teryx, Peak Performance, Atomic, Suunto, Wilson, Armada, ENVE Composites, Louisville Slugger, DeMarini, and Sports Tracker.

. In 2012 Sports Direct purchased rival retailer JJB's brand name, website, 20 stores and all of their stock in a deal for approximately £24m. The deal saved around 550 jobs. In February 2013, after fashion retailer

Republic A republic () is a "state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th c ...

went into administration, Sports Direct bought 116 Republic stores, the brand name and the company's head office from the administrator for an undisclosed sum. In July 2013, more than 2,000 full-time staff were awarded around £70,000 each under the company's bonus share scheme. On 13 January 2014, Sports Direct bought 4.6% of

Debenhams Debenhams plc was a British department store chain operating in the United Kingdom, Denmark and the Republic of Ireland. It was founded in 1778 as a single store in London and grew to 178 locations across those countries, also owning the Danish ...

shares. The stock market purchase of 56.8 million shares (worth around £46m) was made without the prior knowledge of the Debenhams board. Sports Direct stated at the time it intended to be a supportive share holder. The Debenhams board responded by stating they were open-minded with regard to exploring operational opportunities to improve its performance. Sports Direct sold its shares on 16 January 2014, although they took out an option to buy further shares up to a total of 6.6%. In December 2016, Sports Direct agreed to sell the remaining international rights to its Dunlop brand to Sumitomo Rubber Industries for £112 million ($137.5 million). Sumitomo already own the rights to the brand in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. The sale was due to be completed by May 2017. In July 2017, the company acquired a 26% stake in Game Digital.

Employee conditions and legal breaches

Between 2013 and 2014, ambulances were dispatched to Sports Direct HQ's facilities more than 80 times, including one concerning a woman who gave birth in the facility's bathroom. Sports Direct - Forster Square Retail Park - geograph

Sports Direct - Forster Square Retail Park - geograph

In October 2015, the chief executive of Sports Direct, David Forsey, was charged with a criminal offence for consultation failures over

staff who only had 15 minutes notice of redundancy. In December 2015, an investigation by ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' found that the company fines staff for late clocking on, does not award overtime for late clocking off, relies on

zero hour contract A zero-hour contract is a type of employment contract between an employer and an employee whereby the employer is not obliged to provide any minimum number of working hours to the employee. The term 'zero-hour contract' is primarily used in the ...

s, and regularly makes staff wait unpaid for a security check at the end of shifts. A union official suggested that these practices were illegal as they brought workers' earnings below the

minimum wage A minimum wage is the lowest remuneration that employers can legally pay their employees—the price floor below which employees may not sell their labor. Most countries had introduced minimum wage legislation by the end of the 20th century. Bec ...

. The company responded by saying there were unspecified inaccuracies in the reports. A representative from the charity

ShareAction ShareAction is a registered charity that promotes Responsible Investment. ShareAction aims to improve corporate behaviour on environmental, social and governance issues. The charity has launched numerous campaigns, building capacity among sav ...

claimed that workers are "jeopardising their health" for fear of being dismissed while another shareholder said the company's reputation as an employer was "atrocious". Late in December 2015 Sports Direct announced a 15 pence per hour increase for staff currently receiving less than minimum wage, taking them above minimum wage, the annual cost of this was said in the announcement to be ~£10 Million (GBP); however it was immediately noted that £0.15p × 37.5 hours × 19,000 staff × 52 weeks = 5,557,500 (~£5.5 million), this and other factors resulted in many (including

Unite Unite may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Albums * ''Unite'' (A Friend in London album), 2013 album by Danish band A Friend in London * ''Unite'' (Kool & the Gang album), 1993 * ''Unite'' (The O.C. Supertones album), 2005 Songs ...

) calling it a "PR Stunt". Workers on zero-hours contracts are not included in the rise and neither are those already paid more than minimum wage (management/supervisors etc.) therefore the 19,000 staff above is actually substantially fewer. In August 2016, Sports Direct admitted breaking the law and agreed to disburse unlawfully withheld wages totalling about £1m to the affected workers. As of March 2017, some Sports Direct workers were yet to receive backpay for their time worked, because of a disagreement regarding how contracts changing between employment agencies should be handled. In November 2016, six MPs from the Business and Skills Committee visited Sports Direct, and reported that while there, Sports Direct attempted to place them under

surveillance Surveillance is the monitoring of behavior, many activities, or information for the purpose of information gathering, influencing, managing or directing. This can include observation from a distance by means of electronic equipment, such as c ...

. In February 2017, it was reported that Sports Direct had failed to inform its workforce of a data breach of their personal information after an attacker gained access to its internal systems in September 2016. The

Information Commissioner's Office The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) is a non-departmental public body which reports directly to the Parliament of the United Kingdom and is sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). It is the independe ...

stated it was aware of "an incident from 2016 involving Sports Direct" and would "be making enquiries." The company announced on 16 December 2019 that it would change its name from Sports Direct International plc to Frasers Group plc effective from 17 December 2019. It was announced in September 2021 that Michael Murray was to be the incoming CEO of Frasers Group, taking over Ashley's role, in May 2022. In July 2022, chief operating officer David Al-Mudallal announced in a memo that the company will stop allowing its office staff to work from home on Fridays, as had been practice for the last few years. The reason behind this decision was the fact that many workers did not take working from home seriously enough and were often non-contactable.

Operations

The group has over 470 UK stores including the chains Sports Direct (Sports World prior to 2008),

Flannels Cricket whites, also known as flannels, the kit, costume or uniform worn by most cricketers, and usually consists of trousers, shirt and a jumper. Originally, as indicated by the name whites, flannels were exclusively white or cream. Today, man ...

, Sofa.com, Field & Trek and

. Sports Direct-branded stores exist under a

franchising Franchising is based on a marketing concept which can be adopted by an organization as a strategy for business expansion. Where implemented, a franchisor licenses some or all of its know-how, procedures, intellectual property, use of its busine ...

agreement in South Africa and the Middle East. In 2006 it overtook

JJB Sports JJB Sports plc was a British sports retailer. On 24 September 2012, shares in JJB Sports were suspended, and the firm called in administrators. On 1 October 2012, it was announced that Sports Direct had purchased part of the business, includ ...

as the UK's largest sportswear retailer.

Acquisitions

Dunlop

Sports Direct, The Core, Leeds (11th April 2011)

In February 2004, the company acquired

Dunlop Slazenger Dunlop Slazenger was a sports equipment manufacturing company formed by now-defunct BTR plc by consolidating the various sports brands acquired as part their take-over of Dunlop Holdings in 1985. The company is most recognised for its involvement ...

for around £40 million, which included the Dunlop,

and

Carlton Carlton may refer to: People * Carlton (name), a list of those with the given name or surname * Carlton (singer), English soul singer Carlton McCarthy * Carlton, a pen name used by Joseph Caldwell (1773–1835), American educator, Presbyterian ...

brands. This was followed by the acquisitions of outdoor gear manufacturer

Karrimor Karrimor is a British brand of backpacks, outdoor and sports equipment, and clothing. The company was founded as the Karrimor Bag Company in 1946. Financial difficulties beginning in the late 1990s led to the company entering receivership in ...

in March for a reported £5 million. In 2006 he acquired

Kangol Kangol is a British clothing company famous for its headwear. The name Kangol reflects the original materials for production, the K coming from the word 'silK' (a recent attribution to 'Knitting' is incorrect), the ANG from 'ANGora', and the ...

for an estimated £12 million. Most of these brands were bought from distressed sellers. After looking at a takeover, Sports Direct took a £9 million stake and signed a lucrative long-term deal in August 2005 with troubled brand

Umbro Umbro is an English sports equipment manufacturer founded in 1924 in Wilmslow, Cheshire and based in Manchester. They specialise in football and rugby sportswear featuring their ''Double Diamond'' logo. Umbro products are marketed in over 100 c ...

, which was subsequently sold to

Nike Nike often refers to: * Nike (mythology), a Greek goddess who personifies victory * Nike, Inc., a major American producer of athletic shoes, apparel, and sports equipment Nike may also refer to: People * Nike (name), a surname and feminine give ...

. The brands themselves are an increasingly important part of the business, and Sports Direct made £10 million, from selling the intellectual-property rights to the Slazenger Golf brand to arch-rival JJB in 2005. In 2016, Sumitomo Rubber Industries, a global tyre, sports goods, and industrial rubber products manufacturing company based in Kobe, Japan, filed for regulatory approval before the

Philippine Competition Commission The Philippine Competition Commission (PhCC) is an independent, quasi-judicial body formed to implement the Philippine Competition Act (Republic Act No. 10667). The PhCC aims to promote and maintain market competition within the Philippines by ...

in connection with its planned acquisition of Dunlop-related wholesale, manufacturing, and licensing business from Sports Direct. Sumitomo Rubber intended to acquire the entire issued share capital of Dunlop Brands Limited, Dunlop Slazenger 1902 Limited, and Dunlop Australia Limited, and the Dunlop-related business of Dunlop Sports Group Americas, Inc. which are subsidiaries of Sports Direct. The Philippine Competition Commission approved the regulatory filing for the said acquisition. The acquisition allowed Sumitomo Rubber to consolidate the Dunlop brand across various products including sports goods worldwide.

Other acquisitions and closures

On 10 August 2018, the

entered

administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal ** Administrative assistant, Administrative Assistant, traditionally known as a Secretary, or also known as an admini ...

. Later that day, Sports Direct agreed to buy all House of Fraser UK stores, the House of Fraser brand, and all of the stock in the business for £90 million in cash, converting all old House of Fraser stores into Sports Direct. Prior to the company entering administration, Sports Direct's Mike Ashley held an 11% stake in the company. On 30 October 2018,

was purchased by Sports Direct in a pre-pack administration deal. In February 2019 the group acquired Sofa.com for a nominal sum. On 5 August 2019, Sports Direct purchased

out of administration for £12.7 million after winning a competition against

Edinburgh Woollen Mill Edinburgh Woollen Mill (EWM) is a Carlisle-based retailer specialising in clothing, along with interests in homewares and destination shopping for tourists. It was previously owned by the Dubai-based British billionaire Philip Day. The company ...

. On 24 August 2020, it was announced that Frasers Group would buy "certain" assets from

DW Sports Fitness DW Sports Fitness was a British retailing and fitness business, founded as a result of Dave Whelan's purchase of 50 JJB Sports fitness clubs with attached retail stores for £83.4 million in March 2009. The business would later encompass more th ...

for £37m, but would not be using the firm's brand name. Also in August 2020, during the

Covid-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, Ashley threatened landlords with House of Fraser store closures. In December 2020,

announced it was going into

liquidation Liquidation is the process in accounting by which a company is brought to an end in Canada, United Kingdom, United States, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, and many other countries. The assets and property of the company are redistrib ...

, putting 12,000 jobs in 124 UK stores at risk unless the administrators could find buyers for all or parts of the business. Frasers Group was reported to be in talks to acquire Debenhams, though it was later reported that Ashley was mainly interested in using empty Debenhams stores to expand his other chains, including House of Fraser, Sports Direct and Flannels; taking 'vacant possession' would avoid redundancy costs for existing staff. In January 2021, it was announced that the

Jenners Jenners is a former well-established department store in Edinburgh, Scotland, situated on Princes Street. It was Scotland's oldest independent department store until the retail business was acquired by House of Fraser in 2005. It closed in Dec ...

House of Fraser store in Edinburgh was closing for good and 200 jobs would be lost. In April 2021 the group announced it had doubled the hit it expects to take from the coronavirus pandemic to £200 million. In February 2022, the group announced it had purchased some of the assets of the Studio Retail Group from

. On 1 June 2022, it was revealed that the group had bought the intellectual property of

Missguided MGL Realisations (2022) Limited (trading as Missguided) is a UK-based multichannel retailer selling clothes aimed at women aged 16-35 years old. Missguided's headquarters were in Stretford, Greater Manchester until 2015 when they moved to Tra ...

and its sister brand Mennace for about £20 million, after they went into administration the previous day. In November 2022, it was announced Frasers Group had acquired one of London’s oldest bespoke tailors, Gieves & Hawkes.

Brands

Retail outlet

Firetrap Firetrap is a British clothing company, founded in 1993, About Firetrap specialising in menswear and accessories. It was the main brand within the WDT company (World Design and Trade), which also owned its sister brand Full Circle along with p ...

French Connection The French Connection was a scheme through which heroin was smuggled from Indochina through Turkey to France and then to the United States and Canada, sometimes through Cuba. The operation started in the 1930s, reached its peak in the 1960s, and ...

Game A game is a structured form of play (activity), play, usually undertaken for enjoyment, entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator s ...

(Current flagship) * Sneakerboy Australia * Sofa.com *

Sells Sport/Exercise Products

* EAG *

Eastern Mountain Sports Eastern Mountain Sports (or EMS) is an outdoor clothing and equipment retailer in the Northeastern United States headquartered in Meriden, Connecticut. EMS sells outdoor equipment and clothing from both name brands and its own EMS line. The compa ...

* Field & Trek *

Gelert Gelert () is a legendary wolfhound associated with the village of Beddgelert (whose name means "Gelert's Grave") in Gwynedd, north-west Wales. In the legend, Llywelyn the Great returns from hunting to find his baby missing, the cradle overturne ...

Heatons Heatons is an Irish department store, established in 1946. The store specialises in fashion, homeware and sporting goods. They have 21 stores around Ireland, 20 in the Republic of Ireland and one in the Northern Ireland town of Enniskillen. Th ...

* Sportland International Group * Sports Direct (former flagship) *

Sweatshop A sweatshop or sweat factory is a crowded workplace with very poor, socially unacceptable or illegal working conditions. Some illegal working conditions include poor ventilation, little to no breaks, inadequate work space, insufficient lighting, o ...

* Tri UK *

Online Exclusive brands

* Ace * ASOS *

* Mennace *

Studio A studio is an artist or worker's workroom. This can be for the purpose of acting, architecture, painting, pottery (ceramics), sculpture, origami, woodworking, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, industrial design ...

Clothing and equipment

Agent Provocateur An agent provocateur () is a person who commits, or who acts to entice another person to commit, an illegal or rash act or falsely implicate them in partaking in an illegal act, so as to ruin the reputation of, or entice legal action against, the ...

British Knights British Knights is an American brand founded in 1983 by Jack Schwartz Shoes Inc., based in New York City. In the 1980s, British Knights distinguished themselves as an inner-city and music-driven brand, appealing to the predominantly male youth i ...

* Donnay *

* GoldDigga * Grumpytoly Apparel * Gul *

Hot Tuna Hot Tuna is an American blues rock band formed in 1969 by former Jefferson Airplane members Jorma Kaukonen (guitarist/vocals) and Jack Casady (bassist). Although it has always been a fluid aggregation, with musicians coming and going over the ...

LA Gear LA Gear (or L.A. Gear) is an American shoe company based in Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1983, the brand is currently owned by ACI International. History LA Gear was started by Robert Greenberg, Ernest Williams, and Stephen Williams. Gr ...

* Lillywhites * Lonsdale * Lovell Rugby * Lovell Rackets * Miso * Miss Fiori * Muddyfox * Mulberry * Nevica *

* Sondico * SoulCal * USA Pro * Voodoo Dolls

Former brands

* Bike Clearance * Dunlop * Original Shoe Company *

Defunct and Inactive

* Dixon Sports Ltd *

Gamestation Gamestation was a chain of retail shops in the United Kingdom selling used and new video games, and was the second largest specialist video game retailer in the United Kingdom until it was acquired by Game in May 2007, a group which owns many ...

* Gilesports * Hargreaves Sports *

* MegaValue.com * PWP Sport *

* SheRunsHeRuns * Sports Soccer * Sports World * Streetwise Sports

Notes

References

External links

* {{Authority control Companies based in Derbyshire Shirebrook Retail companies established in 1982 Sporting goods retailers of the United Kingdom Companies listed on the London Stock Exchange 1982 establishments in England English brands Sports Direct 2007 initial public offerings