Fashion group Boohoo is to move forward with plans to change its name to Debenhams, despite Mike Ashley's Frasers group voting to block formalizing the move in a meshing battle between the two retailers.
Boohu said earlier this month that he wanted to change the name of Debenhams himself, a department store brand he purchased from Management four years ago.
However, efforts to formally rename the corporate entities failed as Debenhams failed after losing the vote at the special shareholders meeting on Friday.
The group said it was intended to change stock market tickers from Boo on Monday, using the name Debenhams in all communications despite the vote.
In a statement, Boohoo's board of directors said: “It is not surprising to the board that the group's main competitor, Frasers, voted against the resolution and continues to act in its own right.. ”
Shareholders representing 62% of the stock favored the name change, falling just below the required two-thirds. The majority of the votes – 413.5m out of 414.4m – went down to Sports Direct, House of Fraser, Flannel, luxury streetwear retailer, and Frasers Group, which owns the online specialists and studio retailers I saw first.
Frasers' interest in Booohoo is less than 29%, but not all shareholders voted, and increasing the vote share to almost 38% could block the resolution.
The vote means that the entities registered with the company's AIM will remain as Boohoo Group, despite the group's corporate branding and stock market ticker becoming the Debenhams group.
This is the latest episode of Sports Direct founder Mike Ashley's battle with Boohoo.
In December, Boohu's shareholders blocked Ashley and his associates from joining the board to manage online fashion retailers they struggle with.
Ashley was trying to become Boohoo's CEO, but the company prevented him from putting the proposal into shareholders.
That vote was the first of two special meetings convened by the Frasers Group. In January, Fraser tried to drive out Boohu's founder and co-chairman Mahmoud Kamani, but his efforts also failed.
After the newsletter promotion
Ashley has made Boohoo the latest in a long target in his corporate empire, including brands ranging from Fraser's and Flannel's homes to Evans' cycles and games. He has long been seeking to manage the Debenhams business, losing at least £150 million in 2019 when a previously listed department store chain fell into control.
Earlier this month, Boohoo CEO Dan Finley said sales of the founding brand and Man and Pretty Little Thing fell sharply as “we've lost our way.”
Boohoo benefited from an increase in online shopping during Covid Pandemic, but has since struggled to compete with first-fashion rivals like Shein and Temu, with a shift towards buying second-hand clothes among teens and 20 people.
Frasers Group has been requested for comment.
