Mike Ashley’s retail group Frasers Group has delayed its annual results presentation for a second year in a row, saying it needs more time to complete them.
The group was due to publish its hotly-anticipated annual results this Thursday, August 13.
But in a statement issued on the stock exchange last night, after the market had closed, the group said the results will now be published on Thursday, August 20, as disclosures relating to new IFRS 16 accounting rules were completed and reviewed.
In a statement the firm said: “Due to the undoubted scrutiny of our accounts, management and our auditors RSM will take this extra week to robustly review the final accounts and ensure that all necessary disclosures have been completed.
“For the avoidance of doubt we can confirm there are no significant matters to address outside of normal audit completion procedures and the final accounts disclosure review.”
Last year the firm’s accounts publication were labelled a “shambles” by market analysts, having been pushed more than a week late and several hours later, after it was hit with a tax claim shortly before they were due to be published.
They were finally released after the market had closed on a Friday evening, following a number of delays during the day.
Mr Ashley used the accounts to publish his own views on the UK’s business landscape, claiming that CEOs and CFOs should be forced to take drug tests and that the Government had failed the high street.
He also explained that the situation at his £90m purchase of House of Fraser was far worse than he initially thought, adding that he would be closing more stores in an effort to save the business.
The accounts included the surprise €674m (£561m) tax bill levied by Belgian tax authorities and it later emerged the accounts had been delayed after directors clashed with auditors over the tax inquiry into allegedly unpaid VAT in Belgium.
In January Frasers said the Belgian tax authorities had dropped the largest part of their investigation against the company, saying the tax authorities were “satisfied with the explanation provided” by the retail firm, and the dispute was finally settled in January.
The group subsequently split with its accounting firm Grant Thornton, replacing it with auditor RSM in October.
