Sports Direct’s Oxford Street flagship includes a hologram at the entrance
(Picture: Sports Direct)Frasers Group, the firm behind a raft of high street brands, has launched a £70 million share buyback programme.
The firm, which is led by retail tycoon Mike Ashley and owns chains such as Sports Direct and House of Fraser, gave the update just days after revealing it expects full-year profits to exceed pre-pandemic levels.
It intends to commence a new share buyback programme between now and the last trading day prior to its financial year ending on April 24.
Frasers Group said the purpose of the up to £70 million buyback “is to reduce the share capital of the company”.
Firms typically purchase shares and hold them in reserve to reduce the number of shares available to the public, which tends to push up the share price.
Shares in Frasers Group ended last week at 732.5p, giving Ashley, the firm’s largest shareholder with a 68% stake, a paper fortune worth £2.4 billion. The shares edged up 2p, or 0.27%, to 734.5p earlier.
Next year Ashley’ future son-in-law, Michael Murray, is set to become chief executive of the group.
