Hornby offloads toy car brand Scalextric for £20m Retail Hornby, the model railway firm advised by Mike Ashley, has agreed to sell toy car racing brand Scalextric for £20m. Castelnau, Hornby’s parent company, announced on Friday it will sell the toy brand to Purbeck Capital Partners. Hornby, which also sells toy planes and cars under the Airfix and Corgi brands, has owned Scalextric since [...]
Debenhams clinches equity raise after share price spook Retail Debenhams Group successfully closed its equity fundraise above its initial £35m target despite a stock market spook which saw its shares drop by 20 per cent. The fashion group, which recently rebranded from Boohoo Group, had pitched the equity raise as central to its turnaround from significant struggles in recent years. Debenhams Group, which owns [...]
Exclusive: RPC to lose Mike Ashley’s ‘rainmaker’ lawyer Legal City law firm RPC is set to lose one of its highest-billing lawyers, who represents the retail titan Mike Ashley. Long-term partner Jeremy Drew will leave the firm after nearly 20 years in the solicitor’s retail and commercial department, which he also co-led. The star lawyer has been a long-term adviser to Mike Ashley, the [...]
Betfred brothers, Alex Gerko, Mike Ashley: Top UK taxpayers revealed January 31, 2026 Betting entrepreneurs Peter Done and Denise Coates, traders Alex Gerko and Chris Rokos, and high street kingpins Tim Martin and Mike Ashley are among the top taxpayers in the UK, new analysis has revealed. Betfred founders Fred and Peter Done paid the most cash into HMRC over the past year, according to The Sunday Times’ [...]
Debenhams to retain Pretty Little Thing as fast fashion brands recovers January 28, 2026 Online fashion seller Debenhams is set to retain Pretty Little Thing after considering selling the fast-fashion brand after seeing improvements in profitability. The retailer, which rebranded from Boohoo Group in March 2025, has unveiled its decision to keep the low-cost retailer after first mulling the sale in August as it looked to restructure its business [...]
Mike Ashley confronts Asos board in latest retail row January 24, 2026 Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group voted against resolutions at online fashion retailer Asos’s general meeting, sparking fears that the high street magnate could prompt further disruptions at listed companies. Various company resolutions were passed by Asos on Friday afternoon but Ashley looked to spoil the party with disruptive votes in meetings, it has been reported. The [...]
Frasers founder Mike Ashley snaps up stake in UK’s largest listed residential landlord January 7, 2026 Fraser’s founder Mike Ashley has secured a slice of an FTSE 250 property firm in a multi-million-pound bet on the future of UK rental housing. The UK billionaire has acquired a 3.1 per cent interest in the UK’s largest listed residential landlord in the private rented sector, Grainger, through a high-stakes financial move known as a spread bet. The [...]
Sheffield Wednesday: Joint bid could win £30m fight for crisis-hit club December 3, 2025 A number of the six bidders for Sheffield Wednesday are considering joining forces as competition to buy the Championship club hots up. Administrator Begbies Traynor has set an initial deadline of this Friday to begin exclusive negotiations with a preferred bidder, but with a number of credible offers on the table that timeline is likely [...]
Sheffield Wednesday: Chansiri gets three-year ban as tuna tycoon canned December 1, 2025 Sheffield Wednesday’s former owner Dejphon Chansiri has been banned from football for three years for his role in the club’s ongoing financial crisis. Wednesday, one of England’s most historic clubs, are in administration and look destined for relegation to the third tier after a further six-point deduction today left them 23 points adrift at the [...]
Profit slashed at Mike Ashley-backed Hugo Boss September 10, 2025 Profit at the UK arm of Hugo Boss, which counts Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group as a major shareholder, has been slashed for a second consecutive year. The London-headquartered division of the German group has posted a pre-tax profit of £9m for 2024, down from the £16.8m it achieved in 2023 and £30.4m in 2022. New [...]