(Reuters) -British online fashion retailer Boohoo said on Friday it was willing to offer its largest shareholder Frasers one board seat but would not recommend the appointment of Mike Ashley and Mike Lennon.
Retail group Frasers has been seeking board representation at Boohoo for Ashley, who majority owns the British sportswear and fashion group, and restructuring specialist Lennon.
The latest development in the row between the two retailers comes after Frasers said on Thursday its nominees for Boohoo’s board would sign up to all protocols to address any governance concerns, if they were to be elected.
Boohoo last month appointed Dan Finley as CEO, rebuffing Frasers’ call to name Ashley for the job.
Boohoo benefited from a online shopping boom during the pandemic but has since faced problems.
Its first-half core earnings fell by a third.
Boohoo said on Friday it would not recommend the appointment to the board of Lennon or Ashley, who the company referred to as a “major competitor”, in any circumstances, due to “Their irreconcilable conflicts of interest given their embedded
relationship with Frasers”.
A Frasers’ spokesperson, responding to the Boohoo statement, said that the shareholders now have to decide if they want to benefit from the “huge value” Ashley and Lennon can bring in supporting CEO Dan Finley or not to bring substantial value to Boohoo shareholders.
Earlier this week, Boohoo had asked shareholders to vote against all the resolutions put forward by Frasers at a general meeting scheduled for Dec.
20.
Shareholder advisory groups Glass Lewis and ISS have backed Boohoo’s stance.
Separately, Frasers had sought Mahmud Kamani’s removal as a director from Boohoo’s board.
Last month, Kamani was moved from the chairman role to the position of independent vice chairman.
Kamani owns about a 13% stake in Boohoo, while Frasers holds 28%.
(Reporting by Aby Jose Koilparambil in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D’Souza, Mrigank Dhaniwala and Jane Merriman)
